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<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe protests, led by groups such as March and March and opposition party ActionSA, have been largely peaceful but increasingly hostile, with marchers chanting \u201cMabahambe\u201d<\/em>, Zulu for \u201cThey must go.\u201d Protest leaders deny xenophobia, insisting undocumented migrants are breaking the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned against scapegoating foreigners, saying intolerance is not the solution to South Africa\u2019s economic challenges. The country faces one of the world\u2019s highest unemployment rates at 32.7%, with 350,000 job losses recorded in early 2026, mostly among young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Repatriations are underway. Malawi, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe have arranged buses and flights for citizens, with about 3,500 foreigners volunteering to leave. More than 500 Nigerians were recently repatriated, with authorities confirming they had been in the country illegally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet even legal migrants say they are being targeted. A Burundian mother of four with refugee papers said: \u201cI am very afraid for my life. The children are afraid. There is no respect. When you pass by here, you are insulted. The children are insulted even at school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos circulating online have fueled tensions, including one showing a Ghanaian man harassed by protesters, prompting Ghana to summon South Africa\u2019s ambassador. Another widely shared clip features activist Nkosikhona Ndabandaba telling a Congolese man: \u201c30 June is the deadline\u2026 leave now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Human rights groups warn the situation could spiral into violence reminiscent of past xenophobic attacks in 2008, 2015, 2016, and 2019. In 2008, 62 people were killed, including 21 South Africans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ramaphosa has outlined a five-point plan to address illegal migration, including stricter asylum rules, quotas for naturalisation, and penalties for employers hiring undocumented workers. Analysts say the crisis is being exploited by politicians ahead of local elections in November, with misinformation fueling anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis has been an ongoing phenomenon in South Africa and more recently, it has been associated with elections,\u201d said Sharon Ekambaram of the Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For migrants like Joseph, the countdown is terrifying. \u201cI have decided to go back home for a while and close down my hair salon because of threats,\u201d another Malawian woman said. \u201cWe\u2019re terrified of what would happen now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DURBAN, South Africa (FN) \u2014 Fear and uncertainty grip thousands of undocumented migrants in South Africa as a deadline set by anti-migrant protesters approaches, demanding foreigners leave the country by June 30. Esnat Joseph, a 36-year-old Malawian woman, fled her home in Durban after armed men stormed her settlement. \u201cThey cut my husband on his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":33412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3699,2096,4,1138],"tags":[19451,19449,273,19454,19453,19448,14998,12755],"class_list":["post-33411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-economics","category-featured","category-politics","tag-actionsa","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-human-rights","tag-malawian-migrants","tag-repatriations","tag-south-africa-migrant-crisis","tag-unemployment","tag-xenophobia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot_17-6-2026_125458_www.bbc_.com_.jpeg?fit=917%2C502&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33419,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33411\/revisions\/33419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot_17-6-2026_1342_www.bbc_.com_.jpeg?resize=608%2C337&ssl=1\")
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