South Africa braces for anti-immigrant marches as fear shuts businesses
Empty buses, closed shops and workers staying home showed how the anti-immigrant march threat had already frozen daily life before crowds hit the streets.
Shuttered shops, idle buses and workers staying home marked South Africa ahead of anti-immigrant marches due to begin. In Johannesburg, Durban and other cities, businesses and public services pulled back as the June 30 deadline linked to the March and March movement raised fears that demonstrations could turn violent.
South African Police Service units were put on alert in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal after officers identified potential protest hotspots. The marches were expected to draw large numbers of poor and unemployed South Africans angry about immigration, jobs and services, while foreign residents in several communities tried to disappear from view. A community leader warned that even legal migrants were being treated as targets, as the line between border enforcement and ethnic intimidation blurred.
The government moved to harden its response ahead of the deadline. An Inter-Ministerial Committee on migration was overseeing a five-point strategy that includes deportation of undocumented foreign nationals, tighter border security through ground sensors, satellite monitoring and drones, migration-system reforms, legal changes and cooperation with other African countries. An official statement put the number of undocumented foreign nationals arrested since the start of 2026 at more than 40,000, including more than 7,400 in the previous month.
President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged that many South Africans have real concerns about illegal immigration, but drew a line at street violence. He said the right to protest does not include “threats, intimidation, vandalism or violence.” The warning came as a viral fake government-style poster had helped amplify the movement and fix June 30 as a deadline, even though the government said the date had no legal force.
The pressure was visible far from the march routes. Thousands of Malawian migrants queued for processing in Durban, while hundreds of Zimbabweans slept outside their consulate in Cape Town as they tried to leave before the deadline. Landlords evicted foreign tenants, and people slept in the open after leaving buildings they feared would be vandalized.
The May 2008 xenophobic riots killed 62 people and displaced tens of thousands. The United Nations warned in 2022 that the country was on the precipice of explosive xenophobic violence, and local migration data put immigrants at about 5.1% of the population.
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