Thousands of migrants flee South Africa ahead of anti-immigrant protests

Thousands of migrants rushed to leave South Africa on Thursday, crowding a makeshift processing camp in Durban and sleeping on pavement outside the Zimbabwean consulate in Cape Town as a June 30 anti-immigrant protest approached. Many feared the march, driven by activists’ deadline for undocumented migrants to leave, could become a moment of collective punishment rather than a peaceful demonstration.

Among those trying to get out was Ebrahim Moosa, who said, “We are scared because you never know what people are planning to do to you.”

Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia said police had elevated operational readiness across all provinces, while acting KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Phumelele Makoba urged people to respect law enforcement rather than take immigration enforcement into their own hands. President Cyril Ramaphosa said, “Our security forces are ready.” Defence Minister Angie Motshekga said the military would secure strategic sites such as airports if needed. Police have identified multiple potential hotspots and brought in private security as a force multiplier.

The government says the June 30 deadline being circulated by activists has no legal basis, and March and March is not calling for violence even as it refuses responsibility for what happens on the day. Xenophobic violence has surfaced again and again in South Africa, from the 2008 riots that killed 62 people to further attacks in 2015, 2016 and 2019, when unrest in Johannesburg left at least 12 dead.

South Africa’s unemployment rate remains above 30 percent, and foreigners are often blamed for crime, pressure on hospitals and joblessness. Statistics South Africa put immigrants at 2.1 percent of the population in 1996 and 3.9 percent in 2022. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber called the Malawian repatriation effort “a heck of a big operation,” with about 7,000 people already deported or repatriated and another 8,000 still to be processed.