Anti-migrant attacks rise in South Africa, HRW warns as Zimbabweans targeted

Anti-migrant attacks rise in South Africa, HRW warns as Zimbabweans targeted

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns of a fresh wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa as anti-immigration groups intensify protests and vigilante-style actions that target foreign nationals, including Zimbabweans.

HRW issues the warning in a report released on Tuesday, as protests increase in cities such as Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban. Among groups named as driving demonstrations are March and March and Operation Dudula, both of which campaign for stricter enforcement against undocumented migration.

Mike Ndlovu, media coordinator for Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX), says the organisation continues to receive reports through community networks of “intimidation, threats, harassment, unlawful evictions, workplace discrimination, police extortion, and denial of access to healthcare and other basic services affecting migrants and refugees”.

Ndlovu adds: “The most common forms of harm include verbal abuse, evictions, discrimination at clinics and workplaces, confiscation of goods and in some cases physical assaults.”

Social media messages and videos circulate calling for foreign nationals to leave South Africa by 30 June, while HRW and activists say many incidents are likely going unreported because people fear retaliation, arrest or deportation.

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Analysts and civil society groups link the growing hostility to pressures in communities affected by poverty, inequality and unemployment. Political parties including the Patriotic Alliance, ActionSA and uMkhonto we Sizwe increasingly frame migrants as competitors for jobs and public services, the report says.

Mpho Makhubela, a member of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) and a KAAX activist, says vigilante groups grow amid wider social frustration, citing unemployment, socioeconomic decline and inequality.

The article also highlights the personal impact on migrants. A Zimbabwean migrant identified as Mpofu recounts being confronted by a vigilante group in Pretoria CBD in January while working as a courier, and says fear in the workplace escalates and contributes to the retrenchment of undocumented migrant workers.

Another migrant, Zwelibanzi Velempini Khumalo, describes increased hostility around Durban and Pietermaritzburg and says tensions in Mpumuza earlier in the year drive foreign nationals out, with some losing belongings and stock. Khumalo says he later loses his job as an accounting lecturer after demands are allegedly made for undocumented staff to be removed from the workplace.

South African authorities respond by reiterating commitments to the rule of law and protections for foreign nationals. Government spokesperson Nomonde Mnukwa says the country’s post-1994 approach allows social integration rather than strict containment, while acknowledging public frustration around unemployment, pressure on resources, undocumented migration and crime. She says hostile actions against migrants are not tolerated and adds that migration laws are being reviewed and border systems modernised.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has also states that targeting migrants under the guise of activism is unlawful, the report says.

However, Operation Dudula spokesperson Pat Mokgalusi calls for undocumented migrants to leave, linking undocumented migration to pressure on jobs and services, while saying legal migrants are welcome if they comply with the law. Jacinta Ngobese Zuma, founder of March and March, also argues for stricter controls, citing resource strain and overcrowding in cities and public services.

From Zimbabwe, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi says Harare monitors the situation but will not interfere in South Africa’s internal affairs, adding that Zimbabwe engages through diplomatic channels and embassies to assist nationals facing difficulties.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) voice concern and call on South African authorities to investigate abuses, ensure accountability and protect migrants’ access to justice and services. HRW warns that scapegoating migrants for crime, unemployment and weak public services risks deepening xenophobia and undermining rights protections.

Nomathamsanqa Masiko-Mpaka, HRW South Africa researcher, says: “South Africa’s constitution and international human rights law protect the right to protest, but that does not include permission to commit violence.”

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