South Africa vows firm response to anti-migrant violence

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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed on Thursday to crush any attempts to destabilise the nation during planned anti-immigrant marches next week, amid a wave of xenophobia.

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Citizen-led groups have set Tuesday, 30, as a deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave and called for nationwide marches against illegal immigration, marking a crescendo in months of protests that have at times turned violent.

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The unofficial ultimatum has stoked fears of a resurgence of xenophobic violence that has claimed several lives in the past.

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“We will not tolerate any attempts to destabilise the country by anyone, whether marching or otherwise,” said Ramaphosa.

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“Our security forces are ready, and those who transgress the measures that we are putting in place will definitely meet the might of the law,” he told the upper house of parliament.

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The police have announced tightened security across the nation for June 30, while government officials have stepped up efforts to ensure calm, including meeting the influential Zulu Royal House.

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The country has been on edge following weeks of sometimes violent xenophobic unrest that has left at least three people dead, according to official sources.

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Mozambican authorities put the toll among their nationals at five.

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The anti-migrant campaign has already spurred voluntary repatriations of thousands of foreigners from elsewhere in Africa, including Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique and Nigeria.

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Makeshift camps have mushroomed in the eastern port city of Durban and financial capital Johannesburg as thousands await transport to their home countries, prompting warnings from aid groups of a deepening humanitarian crisis.

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“We are taking measures to ensure that the 30th becomes a normal day where people will be able to work, to go about their business,” said Ramaphosa.

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Among Africa’s largest and most industrialised economies, South Africa has long been a prime destination for people seeking work even though its own unemployment rate hovers around 32 per cent.

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Competition for scarce work has fuelled resentment, and some South Africans blame migrants for both poverty and crime.

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While Ramaphosa and major labour unions say migrants are being scapegoated for the country’s problems, some politicians have seized on the issue to court populist support ahead of local elections later this year.

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Past flare-ups of violence targeting undocumented foreign nationals have been deadly, with 62 people killed in riots in 2008.

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Violence in 2019 saw armed mobs descend on foreign-owned businesses around Johannesburg, leaving at least 12 people dead — 10 of them South African citizens.

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AFP

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