Xenophobic violence in South Africa is surging again, with vigilante groups and angry crowds targeting African and Asian migrants in townships and city centers as authorities struggle to contain a new wave of anti‑immigrant mobilization. Human Rights Watch, regional media and UN experts warn that marches and “clean‑up” campaigns in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, and other hubs have tipped into assaults, arson and forced displacement, reviving grim memories of earlier pogroms in 2008, 2015 and 2019.
New wave of attacks: “vigilantes in the streets”
In a May bulletin titled “South Africa: New Waves of Xenophobic Attacks,” Human Rights Watch said vigilantes had carried out violent assaults on African and Asian foreign nationals in April and May, “with little or insufficient apparent response from the police and other authorities.” The group cites cases in which mobs beat migrants, burned, or looted their shops and forced families to flee neighborhoods in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban.
The Ethiopia Observer reports that xenophobic violence intensified after the killing of five Ethiopian nationals and other African migrants in late April, with protesters in several areas chanting violent slogans and brandishing sticks as they marched through migrant‑heavy districts. Video clips circulating on TikTok and other platforms show migrants, including Ethiopians and Zimbabweans, being beaten in the street, while bystanders shout that foreigners should “go home.”
A Listening Post segment from Al Jazeera describes “a wave of xenophobic violence” driven by a “toxic mix of anger, disinformation and inflammatory mobilisation,” noting that social media accounts have broadcast calls for foreigners to leave South Africa by specific deadlines.
Organized anti‑migrant campaigns: March and March, Operation Dudula
At the center of the latest surge are citizen‑led movements that frame themselves as community defenders but have repeatedly been linked to intimidation and violence.
HRW points to a group called March and March, which advocates “more stringent immigration enforcement” and has organized demonstrations against undocumented migrants in major cities, as a key driver of recent unrest. In Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, March and March supporters have led protests that shut down streets and business districts, sometimes ending with migrant‑run shops being looted or burned.
These groups build on a longer pattern. UN human rights experts warned as early as 2022 that Operation Dudula, a movement that started as a social‑media campaign under the slogan “force out”, had become “an umbrella for the mobilization of violent protests, vigilante violence, arson targeting migrant‑owned homes and businesses, and even the murder of foreign nationals.”
Al Jazeera notes that March and March and Operation Dudula supporters often stage “clean‑up” operations in which they enter markets, taxi ranks or neighborhoods to “check papers,” expel migrants from public spaces and sometimes escort them out under threat of violence.
Migrants under siege, and leaving
The targets of this mobilization are overwhelmingly low‑income migrants from elsewhere in Africa, including Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Ghana, as well as smaller numbers from Asian countries.
Deutsche Welle reports that in several townships, migrants have faced harassment at home and at work, with some being pushed out of informal settlements altogether. A social‑media post shared by Al Jazeera describes foreign nationals in Durban being “forced from their homes and businesses” after waves of protests, leading some to seek shelter in churches or with relatives.
The situation has become dire enough that hundreds of Ghanaians are leaving South Africa on special flights, according to a late‑May report by Ghanaian media carried by international broadcasters. Officials warn that more departures are likely as attacks and intimidation continue, mirroring earlier episodes in which Nigerians, Zimbabweans and others opted to repatriate during periods of xenophobic unrest.
Ethiopian migrants interviewed by Ethiopia Observer say they are living in “constant fear,” afraid to open their shops or even send children to school in some areas, after seeing videos of countrymen assaulted in the street. Similar language, migrants “living in constant fear”, was used by Amnesty International to describe conditions in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, after deadly attacks in 2022 that left at least seven people dead at the hands of anti‑migrant vigilantes.
Government response: Condemnation, but limited action
South Africa’s government has publicly condemned xenophobic violence whenever it flares, but rights groups say those statements have not been matched by consistent prevention or accountability.
DW notes that critics view official measures as “inadequate”, pointing to a lack of arrests in many recent cases and to political rhetoric that sometimes echoes anti‑immigrant talking points. In 2022, Amnesty said authorities had “failed to protect migrants” in Diepsloot, arguing that repeated attacks by vigilante groups amounted to “just the latest wave in a rising tide of violence against migrants in South Africa.”
UN Special Rapporteurs warned in a 2022 statement that “anti‑migrant discourse from senior government officials has fanned the flames of violence” and that government actors have failed to hold perpetrators accountable, leaving the country “on the precipice of explosive violence” if scapegoating continues.
This year, AP reports that hundreds of South Africans took part in marches in Johannesburg and Pretoria demanding tighter border controls and mass deportations, leading to the closure of many businesses — local and migrant‑owned alike — out of fear of looting. Despite the tensions, police dispersed some crowds with minimal arrests, feeding a perception among migrants that authorities tolerate or even tacitly endorse anti‑immigrant activism.
Structural drivers: unemployment, crime, and political scapegoating
Analysts say the latest surge in xenophobic violence cannot be separated from South Africa’s deep economic and social crises.
HRW notes that since 2024, the country’s unemployment rate has hovered above 43 percent, coinciding with a sharp rise in anti‑immigrant activism and the formation of newer vigilante groups like March and March. DW and AP add that residents widely blame migrants for crime, overcrowded public services and poor housing, even though evidence linking immigration to these problems is weak.
UN experts and local researchers say xenophobic mobilization tends to spike around election cycles, as political actors seek to harness frustration by promising tougher border controls and crackdowns on undocumented workers. With local government polls due later this year, anti‑migrant rhetoric has increasingly become a campaign plank for some parties, who accuse foreigners of “stealing jobs” and overwhelming clinics and schools.
The Listening Post’s recent segment argues that disinformation also plays a role, with viral posts exaggerating the number of foreign nationals or falsely linking migrants to high‑profile crimes, then calling for “community action” that can quickly escalate into violence.
A long and bloody history of xenophobic attacks
Today’s violence is the latest chapter in a pattern stretching back nearly two decades.
- In 2008, xenophobic riots left more than 60 people dead and displaced at least 100,000, according to UN and rights‑group tallies.
- In 2015 and 2016, mobs in Durban and Johannesburg looted foreign‑owned shops and attacked migrants, prompting international condemnation.
- In 2019, armed groups assaulted businesses owned by foreigners in Johannesburg, causing at least 12 deaths, including 10 South African nationals, while attacks also targeted Nigerian‑owned shops and sparked diplomatic tensions.
- In 2021–2022, Operation Dudula and similar groups led protests and “raids” on migrant‑heavy areas, including in Diepsloot, where Amnesty says at least seven people were killed by vigilantes.
Research by Xenowatch, a monitoring project housed at the University of the Witwatersrand, defines xenophobic violence as “any acts of violence targeted at foreign nationals or ‘outsiders’ due to being foreign or strangers.” Its reports detail cyclical patterns of harassment, eviction, and assault that flare, recede and then return with new triggers.
Regional and international fallout
The current surge is reverberating beyond South Africa’s borders.
AP reports that violent incidents in KwaZulu‑Natal involving alleged attacks on Ghanaians prompted Ghana to summon South Africa’s ambassador for an explanation, after minibus taxis and public infrastructure were destroyed in an anti‑immigrant march in the Eastern Cape. Nigeria and other countries have protested similar attacks in past waves.
UN Secretary‑General António Guterres has expressed concern about the latest reports of harassment, discrimination, and attacks, repeating earlier warnings that South Africa is “on the precipice of explosive xenophobic violence” if hate speech and scapegoating are not curbed.
Meanwhile, flights carrying returning Ghanaian nationals underscore the human cost for families whose dreams of economic opportunity in South Africa have ended at gunpoint or under threat.
What comes next
Rights groups are urging South African authorities to move beyond condemnation and deliver visible accountability for perpetrators of xenophobic attacks, while also addressing the structural drivers, unemployment, inequality, strained services, that fuel resentment.
Human Rights Watch has called for:
- Prompt, transparent investigations into recent assaults and killings.
- Prosecutions of leaders who incite violence, whether online or at rallies.
- Stronger protection for refugees and documented migrants, including safe reporting channels when they face threats.
UN experts say the stakes are broader than migration policy. If anti‑migrant campaigns become entrenched as a normal tool of electoral politics, they warn, South Africa risks normalizing a politics of exclusion that could deepen racialized divisions and make future outbreaks of violence more frequent and more deadly.
For now, migrants in Johannesburg, Durban and beyond say they are watching the calendar — and the streets — closely, as calls circulate online for foreigners to leave by set dates and as protests continue to mushroom. Whether the state can reassure them that they belong, and are protected, may determine whether this latest surge of xenophobic violence recedes, or becomes the prelude to something worse.