Violent anti-immigrant protests are taking place in South Africa. Thousands of people have fled the country during months of anti-immigration protests demanding that undocumented people leave South Africa.
In Thembelihla, an informal settlement south of Johannesburg where thousands of brick houses and metal shacks line muddy roads flooded with murky water, Malawians have lived side by side with South Africans for years without any problems, The Guardian writes. But over the past few weeks, there have been a series of armed robberies in the community. On June 29, several men broke into the yard of Abraham Hussein, a 60-year-old Malawian who has lived in South Africa since 2000. They beat him and robbed him of valuables. On the night of July 16, this gang robbed at least four homes of Malawians in Thembelihla. The five men told the scared Malawians to go home.
Since March, South Africa has seen mass protests against illegal immigration, often accompanied by violence. According to official AFP figures, more than 160,000 people from countries including Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have fled South Africa, with at least 54,000 deported. At least four people have died.
While South Africa has imported labor for generations, immigration has increased since Nelson Mandela, who became the first democratically elected black president in 1994, invited people from across Africa to join him. Poverty and political repression in some neighboring countries have also forced many people to leave South Africa, writes The Guardian.
According to census data, South Africa's foreign-born population nearly tripled to 2.4 million between 1996 and 2022. The purpose of the census is to count the undocumented. This represents 3.9% of the population of 62 million, up from 2% in 1996. The South African government says it is working to improve immigration data.
As discontent with high unemployment and inequality in South Africa grows, so does the desire to blame other Africans. These tensions frequently erupt into violence, often with deadly consequences, The Guardian said.
The current wave of anti-immigration protests peaked on June 30, when civil society organizations unofficially declared that illegal immigrants should leave the country. But attacks and displacement continue, with thousands more forced to flee South Africa this month.
During the marches, which still take place regularly, people are evicted from their homes in the presence of police. Meanwhile, criminals take advantage of the chaos and terrorize more immigrants. At around 9:00 p.m. on July 16, five men broke into Musa Addy Kunye's house and beat him when he said he had no money. He tearfully said that the robbers took his refrigerator, TV and cell phone. “You see, there's blood everywhere,” he said, pointing around the room. Blood splattered on the floor, splattered on the white curtain dividing the room and splattered on the wall.
When Cunye returned from a nearby clinic, he had several stitches in his head after being hit by a pistol. His gray tracksuit was covered in dried blood.
Aisha Muhammad, one of Kunye's neighbors, said she was robbed of 4,000 rand (about $200) that she had saved to return to Malawi. “They said, 'You're a foreigner. You want to leave, you have to leave,'” she said.
Two other families reported being robbed by five men that night. They all said they wanted to return to Malawi but couldn't afford it now.
Last week, thousands of homeless Malawians slept outside their consulate in an affluent area north of Johannesburg as temperatures dropped below 10 degrees Celsius.
Among those waiting to board the bus back to Malawi were dozens of women with young children. One person, who did not want to be named, was fired by the family where she worked as a cleaner, forcing her to leave South Africa with her eight-year-old son. She leaves behind her husband, who said he was also fired after 17 years. He stayed behind to save money to transport their belongings back to Malawi, but he went missing with his family. “My son, I want to talk to him all the time,” he said.
Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, leader of March and March, one of the groups calling for a deadline for illegal immigrants to leave South Africa, said on June 30 that they would protest every Thursday for six months until everyone leaves the country. Critics of anti-migrant rallies accuse their organizers of shifting responsibility for solving problems in South Africa from the government to migrants.
“We asked the South African authorities if they could ask illegal immigrants to leave the country first so we can deal with domestic issues,” said Sandile Dube, a spokesperson for March and March.
Some government ministers have questioned why the marches continued even though the country held contested local elections in November.
The opposition Umkhonto we Sizwe party, led by former President Jacob Zuma (who Ngobesse-Zuma said is not a direct relative of her husband), expressed support for the march. Smaller parties, including ActionSA and the Inkatha Freedom Party, part of the national coalition government, also supported the protests.