South Africa braces for violence as anti-migrant marches reach boiling point
Thousands of people marched Tuesday in cities across South Africa to demand the departure of undocumented foreign nationals.
The protests have been mobilised by a loose coalition of minor political parties and small citizen-led vigilante groups which analysts say appear to be well organised and have a strong social media presence.
A few thousand South Africans took to the streets in the centre of the financial capital Johannesburg, where most shops stayed shuttered, workers stayed home, and transport hubs were quiet.
They marched behind organisers, waving flags and placards and watched by police in bulletproof jackets and riot helmets.
In the southeastern city of Durban, the Zulu heartland, protesters turned out in traditional warrior attire, carrying spears, whips and shields and some draped in leopard skins.
At least four armoured vehicles were stationed along the route, while a police helicopter hovered overhead, reporters saw.
Call for stricter laws
Brightness Gumbi, 48, who runs a kitchen business in a Durban township, said she joined the protest after years of struggling to secure an affordable place for her business.
"The illegal foreigners manage to pay it because they sell drugs to our people," she told French news agency AFP. "I hope through these demonstrations our president will hear our cries and enforce stricter laws."
The leader of the anti-immigrant March and March group, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, told reporters last week that 30 June would launch "a national march to freedom, a rolling mass action" until all undocumented foreign nationals were deported.
"We are not calling for violence... No one will be killed on the 30th of June and no looting will take place in our name," she said.
At least two Mozambicans, an Ethiopian and a Malawian have been killed in anti-immigrant violence over recent weeks, and several African governments have organised planes or buses to repatriate their citizens.
South Africa accused of failing to crack down on anti-immigrant violence
The government is keen to avoid a repeat of the unrest that occurred five years ago, when around 350 people were killed in days of looting and riots.
The government is keen to avoid a repeat of the unrest that occurred five years ago, when around 350 people were killed in days of looting and riots.
The July 2021 unrest was sparked by the brief jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma for refusing to testify to a commission probing corruption.
Some 25,000 people have already fled South Africa in recent weeks, according to the authorities, the majority of them Malawian nationals.
Repatriation centre moved
The Department of Home Affairs has closed the voluntary repatriation site in Durban – located near the coast on a disused parking lot – and relocated it roughly 1,000 kilometres away to the north of the country.
This ensures that Malawians still awaiting repatriation will not be in the city centre, where protesters have been demonstrating.
"I decided to go to avoid being attacked," said Malawian Peter Madsoan, 45, who was among several thousand gathered in the port city of Durban on Monday waiting for a bus to take him home.
"I am a breadwinner back at home in Malawi," said the builder. "It is better for me to go than to die in South Africa."
South Africa accused of failing to crack down on anti-immigrant violence
Pastor Raphael Bahebwa, who has been overseeing a refugee encampment outside the South African Department of Home Affairs building for over a month, said: "We are waiting to see what happens.
They [the authorities] said they would deploy a heavy police presence to ensure our safety. But we are no longer afraid of death. If we die, at least the world will know what is happening – that we were here legally but were killed. We aren't afraid of that," he told RFI.
As Tuesday's unauthorised deadline arrived, thousands of people gathered in Cape Town and Johannesburg, waiting for assistance to go home.
Some said their landlords had evicted them or their employers had fired them, fearing fines from officials or attacks by vigilante groups.
Uganda announced at the weekend an "evacuation plan" to start in the coming days for nearly 750 of its citizens.
November elections
One of the continent's wealthiest countries, South Africa is a magnet for migrant labour while grappling with an unemployment rate above 30 percent, high crime and a breakdown in services in many areas.
In the countdown to 30 June, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced stepped-up government plans to combat illegal immigration and called on traditional leaders to use their "standing to calm tensions".
Coming ahead of local government elections in November, labour analyst Dale McKinley said the anti-migrant push has been "politically weaponised".
Mozambique claims five of its nationals killed killed in South Africa 'xenophobic attacks'
"The xenophobic groups have got it wrong," he told French news agency AFP. "This is a problem of governance, corruption and mismanagement."
The premier of KwaZulu-Natal province, Thami Ntuli, said: "Whatever our concerns about undocumented migration, however legitimate the frustrations beneath them, we will not allow this province to be set alight a second time, whether by criminality or by xenophobia."
Previous flare-ups of violence targeting undocumented foreign nationals in South Africa have been deadly, with 62 people killed in riots in 2008.
(With newswires)