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Unemployment Trends in South Africa
Comparison of unemployment rates as a driver for social tension
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Why are anti-migrant attacks increasing in South Africa?
Johannesburg, South Africa – Human Rights Watch has warned of a new wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa as anti-immigration groups intensify protests and vigilante-style actions targeting foreign nationals, including Zimbabweans.The warning came in a report released on Tuesday amid rising protests in South African cities, including Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban.Groups such as March and March, and Operation Dudula, two South African anti-immigration movements advocating stricter enforcement against undocumented migration, have led protests in several cities.“We continue to receive reports through our 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,” said Mike Ndlovu, media coordinator for Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX).“The most common forms of harm include verbal abuse, evictions, discrimination at clinics and workplaces, confiscation of goods and in some cases physical assaults,” Ndlovu told Al Jazeera.Messages and videos circulating on social media show anti-immigration activists calling for foreign nationals to leave South Africa by June 30.However, many incidents are believed to go unreported due to fear of retaliation, arrest or deportation.What is causing the backlash?In some townships and urban areas affected by poverty, inequality and unemployment, anti-immigration movements appear to be gaining support.Political parties such as the Patriotic Alliance, ActionSA, and uMkhonto we Sizwe increasingly frame migrants as competitors for jobs and public services.Mpho Makhubela, a member of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) and an activist in KAAX, said vigilante groups are growing in response to wider social frustration. South Africa’s constitution and international human rights law protect the right to protest, but that does not include permission to commit violence by Nomathamsanqa Masiko-Mpaka, HRW South Africa researcher “Vigilante groups feed off the country’s frustrations over unemployment, socioeconomic decline and the lack of effort to address inequality gaps,” he told Al Jazeera.“The country continues to face the enormous task of addressing the legacies of apartheid.”The human tollThe violence and harassment have had a direct impact on migrants’ daily lives.Mpofu, a Zimbabwean former courier at Mr Delivery, a food and package deli...
South Africa: New Waves of Xenophobic Attacks - allAfrica.com
Johannesburg — Stop Scapegoating Migrants; Ensure Protection Measures, Accountability Vigilantes in South Africa have carried out violent xenophobic attacks targeting African and Asian foreign nationals in recent weeks, with little or insufficient apparent response from the police and other authorities, Human Rights Watch said today. In April and May 2026, a citizen-led movement, March and March, that advocates more stringent immigration enforcement in South Africa organized demonstrations against undocumented migrants in major cities including Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Durban, with violent and sometimes fatal results. "South Africa's constitution and international human rights law protects the right to protest, but that does not include permission to commit violence," said Nomathamsanqa Masiko-Mpaka, South Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The authorities should not allow vigilante groups to violently target foreign nationals and instead need to protect them and bring those who harm them to justice." Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines Since 2008--when 62 people, including 21 South Africans, 11 Mozambicans, 5 Zimbabweans and 3 Somalis, were killed--South Africa has been grappling with intermittent but widespread xenophobic harassment and violence against African and Asian foreign nationals living in the country, whether refugees, asylum seekers, or both documented and undocumented migrants. Sporadic waves of violence erupted against foreign nationals in 2015, 2019--primarily targeting Nigerian nationals--and 2021-2022, with the rise of vigilante groups like Operation Dudula ("force out" in Zulu). Since 2024, the country's deteriorating socioeconomic conditions, including an unemployment rate of over 43 percent, coincided with the rise of anti-immigrant activism and the formation of newer vigilante groups like March and March. These groups scapegoat foreign nationals as the cause of South Africa's economic woes, poor service delivery, and high rates of crime, despite studies that disprove these claims. These groups have prevented foreign nationals from accessing health care and education in public facilities. In November 2025, the South Gauteng High Court granted an injunction against Operation Dudula, prohibiting its supporters from blocking migrants access to healthcare facilities. Mpho Makhubela, a member of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) and an activist in the Kopanang Africa Agains...
South Africa anti-migrant protests: 5 key points explained
Anti-immigrant protests flare again in South Africa as vigilantes threaten to remove undocumented migrants by June 30, raising tensions ahead of municipal elections.JOHANNESBURG: Anti-immigrant protests are flaring again in South Africa, with vigilantes threatening to remove undocumented migrants by June 30, reviving a politically charged issue in a country battered by economic hardship.Waves of xenophobic violence, including in 2008 when dozens were killed, reflect deeper structural problems in Africa’s most industrialised nation, analysts say.Here are five things to know about the latest unrest, which has drawn criticism from several African nations.What sparked the new wave?Mostly low-key demonstrations against migrants have been building for months after a flare-up late last year when undocumented foreign nationals were blocked from accessing clinics and hospitals.It reflects growing public anger over issues such as soaring joblessness, crime and pressure on resources, with a steady influx of mostly African migrants becoming a convenient scapegoat, analysts say.Some political forces also appear to be using the tensions to garner support ahead of municipal elections in November.South Africa is under pressure from global shocks and domestic policy failures, said William Gumede, professor of public management at the University of the Witwatersrand.“We are going into a very difficult period,” he said, pointing to “self-inflicted toxic policies” by government and its failure to reverse economic decline.There are roughly three million immigrants in the country, about 5.1 percent of the population, according to the national statistics agency.More than 63 percent come from neighbouring countries in the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc that are facing their own economic crises and political instability.With South Africa’s unemployment rate of nearly 33 percent — significantly higher when discouraged job seekers are included — there is particular resentment towards working migrants.Who is behind the protests?Protesters have been whipped into action by a loose coalition of political parties and citizen-led xenophobic vigilante movements, some fronted by men in traditional Zulu dress.Their charges that migrants are behind crime and taking jobs from locals inflame tensions in townships strained by poverty, unemployment and weak policing.A virulent social media campaign that includes disinformation debunked by AFP contributes to the sprea...
Xenophobic Attacks in South Africa: Causes, Consequences, and the Path ...
Xenophobic violence remains one of the most troubling features of post-apartheid South Africa. Since 1994, periodic outbreaks—most notably in 2008, 2015, and again in 2024-2025—have targeted African and Asian migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. These attacks, often concentrated in townships and informal settlements, reveal deep-rooted tensions within a society still grappling with ...
