For months, anti-immigrant rhetoric had been rising across South Africa. And it arrived at Kaunga Nyirenda’s doorstep.
In early June, two men issued a chilling ultimatum to a Malawian gardener on the outskirts of Johannesburg. “Leave now or face death.”
“They asked me, ‘When are you going to leave? We want to rebuild this country. If we don’t leave now, we’ll leave in a coffin because we don’t need anyone after June 30th,'” he said of the ultimatum.
Nyirenda’s experience reflects a broader rise in anti-immigrant sentiment. In recent weeks, protest groups and self-styled vigilante groups who claim their rallies are peaceful have been demonstrating, seemingly sparking violent attacks against both documented and undocumented foreigners, who are accused of taking jobs away from South Africans, committing crimes and squeezing public services.
South Africa’s government has rejected a so-called “deadline” set by the group for foreigners to leave the country amid fears that the violence could reach a climax later this month.
March and March, one of the groups, on Tuesday called for large-scale protests if its demands are not met, including “immediate and large-scale deportation of all illegal aliens currently in the country.”
Ahead of the planned demonstration, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa warned that the government “will not tolerate any attempt by anyone to destabilize the country, whether it be through marches or otherwise.”
He has repeatedly condemned attacks on foreigners, saying they “do not represent the views of South Africans and do not reflect the policies of our government.” Ramaphosa blamed the violence on “opportunists exploiting legitimate grievances, especially of the poor, under the false guise of ‘community action'” and said security forces were on high alert to respond to any violence.
Amid rising tensions, South African police have launched an investigation into the recent killings of several foreign nationals.
More than 50 huts in an informal settlement were burnt and two Mozambican men were beaten to death in late May in the Western Cape coastal town of Mossel Bay, police said. Mozambique later announced that five of its citizens had been killed in what it called a “xenophobic attack.”
Authorities are also investigating the death of a Malawian man who was allegedly killed by a mob in an informal settlement in the city of Pietermaritzburg, near Durban. The attack forced hundreds of migrants to seek refuge in churches and mosques, state broadcaster SABC said.
As the end of the month approaches, the exodus of migrants continues as fears of further mob attacks spread across poorer regions and informal settlements.
It is unclear what anti-immigrant groups will do after the deadline passes. But a video posted on social media that appears to show a young man brandishing a machete and counting down to a deadline is worrying migrants like Nyirenda.
The current unrest has grown out of campaigns against illegal immigration led by groups such as the March and March movement and Operation Dudula, which means “push back” or “forced removal” in Zulu.
Operation Dudura targeted foreign-owned businesses, stopped people on the street to check their IDs, and sought to prevent foreigners from accessing public hospitals.
Another key figure is Nkosikona Ndabandaba, known as “Fakelmutakati”. He, who has more than 1.7 million followers on Facebook, mobilized demonstrations featuring men in traditional Zulu warrior garb and told CNN he was the architect of the June 30 deadline.
In one video, he tells a Congolese man to leave South Africa without even asking if he is in the country legally.
“June 30 is the deadline, but there’s no need to wait until then. Leave now,” he said, adding that after Tuesday “we cannot control the people of South Africa.”
Ndabandaba later told CNN that his campaign was targeting illegal immigrants of all nationalities, denied that his supporters committed any violence, and blamed other groups for the violence.
South Africa’s border agency said more than 13,000 foreign nationals had been voluntarily or forcibly returned in the past two weeks, including about 9,000 Malawians, 3,000 Zimbabweans, 900 Ghanaians and 300 Nigerians.
Prime Minister Ramaphosa acknowledged the “challenge of illegal immigration” and said the government was tackling it. He said illegal immigration “distorts the labor market” by putting pressure on public services and allowing some employers to exploit cheap labor. Still, he warned against using migrants as a scapegoat for South Africa’s economic woes.
More than 30 years after the end of apartheid, a racist system that confined black South Africans to low-paid, controlled labor and reserved most of the country, quality education, and well-paid jobs for the white minority, South Africa continues to struggle with high unemployment, one of the highest murder rates in the world, and deep racial inequality.
Attacks against foreigners are not new to South Africa, which has experienced repeated waves of xenophobic violence. More than 3 million immigrants, about 5% of the population, live in the country, most of them from neighboring southern African countries seeking work, according to the Office for National Statistics.
With 350,000 jobs lost, South Africa’s unemployment rate reached 32% in the first quarter of 2026, with young people hardest hit, according to the agency’s data.
But despite these hardships, South Africa, one of Africa’s leading industrial economies, remains a destination for migrants willing to take low-wage jobs in domestic work, security and agriculture.
Andre Duvenhage, director of research at North West University in South Africa, said immigrants are often hired because employers see them as willing to work for low wages, and because they are non-nationals, they are not usually protected by many labor protections. Employers also perceive them to have a “higher work ethic than some members of the general population,” he said.
Anti-immigrant anger has long focused on immigrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi, with similar hostility directed at Ghanaians and Nigerians.
Tony Irims, who runs a solar energy company in Nigeria and South Africa, told CNN that hostility is broadly directed toward “suspected black immigrants who live and do business near (low-income) black South African communities.”
He described the violence as “highly racialized and classed,” noting that wealthy foreigners and white residents were rarely targeted.
Recent tensions have revived memories of 2008 xenophobic violence that left at least 62 people dead and thousands displaced. The deadly attacks recurred in 2015 and again in 2019.
Mr Irims said the South African economy remained largely dominated by a wealthy white Afrikaner minority, leaving many black South Africans with limited economic opportunities. Unable to challenge what he called “the political and corporate structures at the top that are responsible for poverty,” many instead direct their frustrations at “defenseless black immigrants,” he said.
While apartheid-era inequalities remain at the center of political debate, anger against the white minority is primarily expressed through legal and political means, and black African immigrants bear the brunt of street violence, he said.
He called this a contradiction. Migrants face the greatest risk of xenophobic attacks yet receive little international protection, while “a group that holds significant economic privileges and is protected by elite private security and reinforced suburban infrastructure (white South Africans) is granted quick political asylum abroad.”
He was referring to the U.S. decision to resettle Afrikaners in South Africa after President Donald Trump claimed that “genocide is occurring” in South Africa, where “white farmers are being slaughtered and their land is being confiscated.”
For Nyirenda, a Malawian gardener, the protests are “hypocritical” because they selectively target black African migrants.
Despite having made South Africa his home for the past 16 years, the 38-year-old told CNN he has decided to return to Malawi.
“They (protesters) only have energy for fellow poor black Africans,” he said.
“Why fight a starving person like you when you can leave those who took all your wealth alone?”
