South Africa’s Anti-Migrant Violence: How It Got This Far

Society · South Africa

A United Nations committee has now said in Geneva what migrants in Johannesburg have known all year: South Africa’s anti-foreigner vigilante movement has become a machine for violence, and the state has been slow to switch it off.

The summer it boiled over

The immediate fuse was a deadline. In June, anti-migrant groups declared that undocumented foreigners must leave South Africa by 30 June, and the month ended with marches in Johannesburg and Durban.

The police logged about 120 marches on 30 June and arrested roughly 900 people, mostly for immigration violations and public violence. In the weeks around the deadline, more than 25,000 migrants were repatriated, according to the security authorities, and thousands more left on their own.

The scenes told their own story: foreign nationals camping near consulates for protection, migrant-owned shops shuttered, and police deployed across the big cities to keep marchers and migrants apart.

By August the tally had turned lethal. Killings of Ethiopian, Mozambican and Malawian nationals were recorded, and at least 50,000 migrants were driven from their homes or shelters.

Neighbouring states responded as if to a refugee crisis. Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Mozambique organised repatriations, while Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho and Zimbabwe issued travel warnings for their citizens.

Who the vigilantes are

Operation Dudula — the name means ‘push out’ in Zulu — began in Soweto in 2021 as a campaign against migrant-owned businesses. It grew into a national movement with branches in several provinces.

Its methods moved from marches to direct action: members demanded identity documents at workplaces, blocked foreign patients from clinics and warned schools against admitting undocumented children.

The movement’s early leader, Nhlanhla ‘Lux’ Mohlala, was himself arrested in 2022 after a vigilante raid, a reminder of how thin the line between activism and criminality has been.

A second movement, March and March, rose this year under Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma and spread beyond KwaZulu-Natal, aligning itself with Dudula and setting the 30 June ultimatum.

Both operate in defiance of the courts. In November 2025, the Johannesburg High Court interdicted Dudula and its leaders over unlawful identity checks, intimidation and harassment of foreign nationals — a ruling its marches have simply ignored.

Why the state struggles to answer

The government is not innocent of the climate it now condemns. Its own crackdown on undocumented migration — labour raids, mass deportations, demands that neighbours reimburse repatriation costs — ran parallel to the vigilantes’ campaign.

The raw material is economic. Unemployment near a third of the workforce and deep inequality make the migrant shopkeeper the nearest target for anger that has no easy address.

President Ramaphosa has tried to walk both sides. He condemned xenophobia on Freedom Day, and told parliament on 25 August that police were gathering evidence and arrests had been made.

The opposition is unconvinced. Julius Malema charged in that debate that attacks happened in front of police without arrests, creating what he called the impression of state-sanctioned violence.

Administrative decay feeds the fire. Home Affairs backlogs leave asylum seekers undocumented for years, and a draft White Paper proposing a points-based immigration system has been circulating since December without resolution.

What it costs the country

The diplomatic bill is already visible. Travel advisories and repatriation flights are the vocabulary of a state in dispute with its neighbours, and the African Union is being petitioned to act.

The continent’s disappointment carries an edge. Several governments now warn citizens about a country that once symbolised African liberation.

There is a commercial exposure too. South African champions such as MTN and Standard Bank earn across the continent, and retaliation against their brands is a live fear in Lagos and Accra.

The political cost lands in November. Municipal elections will be fought in the same townships where the marches began, with migration now a first-order campaign issue.

The deepest wound is historical. The countries whose citizens are being chased out sheltered South Africa’s own exiles during apartheid — a debt the UN secretary-general pointedly recalled this year.

More: South Africa news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did the UN committee tell South Africa?

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in a decision adopted on 21 August and publicised a week later, told South Africa to prohibit and dismantle organised racist vigilante groups. It cited at least four migrant killings and the displacement of at least 50,000 people since early 2026.

What is Operation Dudula?

Operation Dudula — ‘push out’ in Zulu — is an anti-migrant movement founded in Soweto in 2021. Its marches, workplace document checks and clinic blockades continued even after a 2025 High Court interdict against unlawful identity checks, intimidation and harassment.

Has South Africa had xenophobic violence before?

Yes, repeatedly: riots that began in Alexandra in 2008 killed sixty-two people, and further waves struck in 2015 and 2019. Monitors counted hundreds of incidents and dozens of deaths between 2022 and 2025 alone.

What is the government doing about the 2026 violence?

President Ramaphosa told parliament on 25 August that police were gathering evidence and that arrests had been made. Critics, including opposition leader Julius Malema, say enforcement has been slow and sometimes passive in the face of attacks.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief

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