(Adnkronos) – South Africa is on high alert on the day of the symbolic deadline set by anti-immigration movements for the expulsion of all undocumented foreigners, an explosive crisis that has already driven over 25,000 people to flee to neighboring countries and forced institutions to lock down the critical centers of Johannesburg and Durban. While thousands of officers patrol the streets to prevent a new wave of xenophobic violence, many shops have lowered their shutters, and the police have already made initial arrests for looting and theft targeting businesses run by foreigners. To limit the risk of tribal clashes, authorities have strictly prohibited the use of traditional weapons during protests, even though many Zulu ethnic demonstrators usually march with shields, sticks, and whips. In this heated climate, President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a stern warning to the nation, urging peaceful demonstrations without “intimidation, threats, or ultimatums,” and firmly reiterating that “foreign citizens legally present in the country have a full right to the protection of our laws and our Constitution.”
The current tension is the culmination of a month-long wait for the June 30 deadline, arbitrarily imposed by a coalition of over 20 ultranationalist and civic groups led by ‘March and March,’ an increasingly influential xenophobic movement to which several journalistic investigations attribute opaque ties with the entourage of former populist president Jacob Zuma. According to documentation also by the BBC, in recent weeks, activists from the political cartel have patrolled the poorest neighborhoods and peripheral settlements – the so-called ‘townships’ – conducting actual armed patrols with sticks to force shopkeepers to display employees’ identification documents. The demands of the protest leaders are radical, and through their spokespersons, they call for an “iron response in defense of borders” and demand a legal provision that categorically excludes foreign citizens from micro-economic activities in the suburbs, with the stated goal of “returning retail trade and jobs exclusively to the South African population.”
The climate of persecution over the past month has generated a true humanitarian exodus, accompanied and fueled by tragic episodes such as the lynching of a Malawian citizen in Pietermaritzburg, not far from Durban, and the arson of dozens of shelters in Mossel Bay. According to official data released by the government, in KwaZulu-Natal province alone – the historical homeland of the Zulu ethnic group considered the epicenter of the protest – over 12,000 immigrants have been expelled or repatriated by local authorities, while approximately 3,500 people have chosen voluntary return to escape the violence in the streets. Broadening the view, the fear of imminent aggressions has prompted over 25,000 foreign citizens to abandon their belongings and flee across national borders to seek refuge, heading mainly towards Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Ghana, and Nigeria, thus expanding the diplomatic and logistical crisis to the entire Southern African region.
In South Africa, the phenomenon underlying the protests is commonly defined as “Afrophobia” by humanitarian organizations, and it differs from generic xenophobia because it almost exclusively affects migrants from other African continent states, in a historical paradox that today sees citizens of those very nations that once offered refuge to South African leaders fighting against Apartheid being persecuted. Today’s tensions are intertwined with the country’s structural failures, burdened by chronic unemployment exceeding 30%, severe deficiencies in the provision of essential services like water and electricity, and deep social inequalities that place it first globally for the Gini coefficient.
