Wielding sticks and bats, wrapped in South African flags and shouting slogans against irregular immigration. This is how thousands of people marched this Tuesday through the main cities during the protests called by anti-immigration groups, which demand that the Government expel all irregular immigrants, as they blame them, without evidence, for unemployment, crime and the saturation of public services. “Abahambe!” (“They must leave” in Izizulu, the majority language) have shouted the crowds recorded before television cameras from Durban to Cape Town, passing through Johannesburg and Pretoria. The nation that rescued from the system of apartheidwhich for decades imposed a system of racial segregation, faces the largest outbreak of hostility against migrants in almost two decades.
This June 30 was the date to expel all foreigners in an irregular situation. This group, whether legal or not, represents some 2.4 million people, less than 4% of the total population according to StatsSA, the state statistics office. The threat, if they did not comply with this demand, was to call a national strike, call for massive mobilizations and give free rein to violence. South Africa, this Tuesday, held its breath.
The marches have finally been held and the worst scenario seems to have been avoided for now: until Tuesday night there has been no widespread outbreak of violence, nor have there been massive attacks on infrastructure or businesses, nor have any deaths been recorded. However, there have been isolated incidents, confrontations with the police and some looting.
The Government has deployed a large police force throughout the national territory from the first hour and had previously announced a fund of 600 million rands (about 32 million euros) to deal with possible contingencies. During the day, the police have arrested some shop looters, although they have not offered exact numbers of those arrested. The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has once again reminded that only the authorities can apply immigration laws.
The most serious altercations have been recorded in Johannesburg. In Hillbrow, two people, including a 17-year-old teenager, after three individuals opened fire on a march. The protesters responded by setting fire to the vehicle of the alleged attackers, who were later arrested by the police. In the north of the city, the protesters threw stones at the agents and at people they believed to be foreigners, and according to the Reuters agency, shots were heard in the financial district.
Further east, in the Benoni neighborhood, the uniformed officers deployed tactical vehicles after being surrounded by about 500 protesters. In Soweto, some people vandalized homes supposedly occupied by migrants, and in Pietermaritzburg the police used rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. The News24 television network also reported that a foreign citizen was almost lynched and had to be rescued by the police, while another person was attacked on the same street where the protests were taking place.
Fear has spread among the foreign population throughout the day and that is why many have chosen not to open their businesses or stay at home. “I have not seen the city so calm since the confinement due to Covid-19,” Yeshiel Panchia, an independent journalist who has been following the protests in Johannesburg, told EL PAÍS by phone.
Behind this mobilization there are several organizations that for years have been demanding that the Government expel immigrants, whom they blame for unemployment – which exceeds 30% -, the collapse of public services and the increase in crime. An opinion shared by Silindile Xaba, 31, who has gone out to demonstrate in Durban. “People are not working because the jobs are being taken by illegal foreigners. It’s not fair,” he told Reuters. However, South African analysts maintain that part of this discourse is being taken advantage of by some political leaders ahead of the local elections scheduled for November.
Mia Malan, journalist and director of the South African media Look closelymaintains that this frustration is being directed towards the wrong target. In his opinion, the true origin of the unrest lies in corruption and poor public management, which have been generating frustration among the population for years. “People are looking for someone to blame and immigrants are an easy target,” he summarizes. Also remember that many foreigners without documentation work in small businesses in the sslums or as domestic and agricultural employees, occupying jobs that rarely belong to the formal labor market. “Their success in some businesses generates resentment, but there is no evidence that they are responsible for the lack of employment or the deterioration of public services,” he concludes.
The most prominent anti-immigration movement today is March & March, which has managed to channel anti-immigration sentiment and turn it into a national mobilization thanks to the formidable loudspeaker of social networks. One of its leaders is Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, a former radio host and anti-immigration activist. This Tuesday, Ngobese announced that they will continue the protests weekly until they achieve their objectives. “Over the next six months we ask that our national resources be used to remove illegal immigrants from the country. They must go building by building,” he told the Reuters agency in Durban.
March & March, however, has insisted that it cannot take responsibility for all acts of violence. “Unfortunately, we cannot be in every community telling people how to behave,” Ngobese-Zuma said.
Three decades after the end of apartheidalthough it is also the largest economy on the continent and a destination for hundreds of thousands of people from neighboring countries looking for work and better opportunities in a territory where xenophobic sentiment has never completely disappeared. South Africa was the protagonist of especially violent episodes, and 2019.
However, since April it has gained unprecedented strength and in recent weeks the pressure, threats and attacks against migrants have increased to the point that thousands of people have left, many of them with the help of their own governments. There is no consolidated figure, but some countries have confirmed the arrival of their nationals: 300 the Government of Ghana, about 1,600 Nigerians and more than 10,000 Malawians. According to the British newspaper The Guardianthe police estimate that 25,000 foreigners have left the country.
During this time, groups of citizens have taken to the streets to demand documentation from supposed foreigners and administer justice into their own hands, setting fire to homes and businesses attributed to migrants and carrying out beatings. The toll so far is at least five dead, including four Mozambicans who died in the fire of dozens of shanties in Mossel Bay, according to government data in Maputo, and a Malawian citizen stoned to death in Pietermaritzburg.
Faced with these episodes, thousands of nationals from Malawi, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe decided in recent weeks to leave their homes and settle in front of public buildings so as not to be so exposed to attacks. Not everyone did it voluntarily; There have also been cases of landlords evicting their foreign tenants for fear that their buildings would be attacked.
The number of people sleeping rough has been such that the authorities in Durban, one of the epicenters of the violent episodes of these weeks, went so far as to set up three temporary centers to house those who wanted to leave the country. This Thursday, according to Siyabonga Hlatshwayo, spokesperson in Durban for the Red Cross in South Africa, the three reception centers in Durban had already been empty.
