By Dr Jean Pierre Misago
In a media briefing on 1 July 2026, the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints) characterised the anti-migrant protests held in various parts of the country on 30 June 2026 as largely peaceful, describing the law enforcement operation as a success on the grounds that “law and order were maintained throughout.” A closer examination of the experiences of tens of thousands of migrants before, on and after 30 June reveals a different picture: one of violent mobilisation that resulted in deaths, the destruction of livelihoods, mass displacements and mass expulsions of migrants from the country. If violence is understood as encompassing all coercive acts that deprive people of their safety, livelihoods and freedom, then the events surrounding the 30 June 2026 anti-migrant protests were anything but peaceful.
Violence before, during and after the 30 June protests
The 30 June protests were rooted in an ultimatum. From around May 2026, the March and March movement, together with allied groups, publicly issued and popularised a deadline requiring all undocumented migrants to leave South Africa by 30 June 2026 or face unspecified consequences. The ultimatum was reinforced through threats and acts of violence. While it had no legal basis (as government officials, including the President, repeatedly emphasised that only the state has the authority to enforce immigration laws), it nevertheless functioned as a credible threat that many migrants could not safely ignore.
By the time protesters assembled on 30 June, violence and threats thereof had already caused significant harm. On 25 May, the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) reported that instability and disorder were intensifying ahead of the 30 June, as in many areas, vigilantes had attacked foreign nationals and journalists. Indeed, in the weeks and days preceding the 30 June protests, migrants across several provinces, particularly Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, reported systematic harassment and intimidation. Vigilante groups raided migrant-owned businesses, demanding identity documents and ordering foreign nationals to leave their communities. Businesses were vandalised and looted. Foreign workers lost their jobs as employers sought to avoid becoming targets. Landlords evicted tenants following threats from anti-migrant activists. Many families fled homes they had occupied for years because remaining had become too dangerous. At least four migrants were killed, while thousands sought refuge in embassies, churches, and temporary shelters. Thousands of displaced migrants were forced to sleep outdoors in winter conditions while awaiting evacuation.
On 30 June, the protests were similarly characterised by violence. NatJoints reported looting of migrant-owned businesses, house break-ins, vandalism, and physical assaults in multiple locations. The police arrested more than 900 people. The violence extended well beyond the protests, with intimidation, looting, vigilante raids, and the displacement of migrants continuing in many communities. As Professor Eddy Maloka observes, “these anti-migrant incidents display typical pogrom features: mob violence, vigilantism, deaths, vandalism, displacement, mobilisation, and inflammatory rhetoric.” Political writer, Dr Ebrahim Harvey, described the events as “the naked terror of vigilantism.”
Violence is not limited to murder or physical assault. It includes all coercive acts that deprive people of their security, livelihoods, dignity and freedom. Death threats delivered at your doorstep are violence. Home invasions are violence. Forced evictions are violence. Destroying or looting someone’s livelihoods is violence. Intimidating families until they abandon their homes is violence. By these standards, the events surrounding the 30 June protests were anything but peaceful. They were characterised by violence, consistent what is commonly known in South Africa as xenophobic violence. Research indicates that xenophobic violence, which generally refers to any acts of violence targeted at foreign nationals because of their being foreign, has become a regular and increasingly unremarkable feature of post-apartheid South Africa.
Law enforcement failures
Government officials have described law enforcement operations during the 30 June protests as a success, as a triumph of effective planning and coordination. That this may have prevented a repeat of the July 2021 unrest is commendable. However, the violence described above is evidence that law enforcement failed tens of thousands of migrants. Numerous reports described vigilante groups conducting raids and unlawful inspections of homes, businesses and workplaces; unlawfully evicting migrants from their homes; and looting and vandalising migrant-owned businesses while police officers either observed or failed to intervene. Vigilante groups were breaking the law in the presence of law enforcement. Government’s appeal to vigilante groups to stop the raids is not an adequate law enforcement intervention.
The state’s constitutional obligations extend beyond maintaining public order during protests. They include protecting everyone within the country from violence, intimidation and discrimination, irrespective of nationality. Judged against this broader constitutional responsibility, law enforcement fell short. This is consistent with a well-documented pattern of inadequate policing and law enforcement in responding to xenophobic violence in South Africa.
Voluntary repatriation or mass expulsions?
Government officials reported that 53,449 foreign nationals have been deported and repatriated from South Africa following the protests. They emphasised that, unlike deportations, repatriations were voluntary. This characterisation is misleading. The term ‘voluntary’ implies the existence of genuine choice, which requires realistic alternatives. Migrants fleeing death threats, assault or eviction are responding to violent coercion, not exercising free and informed choice.
The fact that these repatriations followed violence-driven mass displacements that resulted in a humanitarian crisis is further evidence against the voluntary repatriation claim. The ongoing deportations and repatriations constitute mass expulsions. Professor Eddy Maloka https://theafrican.co.za/tvbox/2026-07-09-mass-expulsions-in-south-africa-a-modern-day-pogrom/ agrees when he asks whether ongoing mass expulsions from South Africa constitute a “modern-day pogrom.”
Whatever legal distinctions may exist between deportation and voluntary repatriation, the empirical outcome is unambiguous: xenophobic mobilisation in 2026 resulted in the mass expulsion of more than 53,000 African migrants from South Africa.
Conclusion
How societies name and frame events shapes collective memory and future accountability. If events surrounding the 30 June protests are remembered primarily as peaceful marches followed by voluntary repatriation, the threats, killings, forced evictions, looting and humanitarian crisis that characterised them risk being raised from public memory. Therefore, it should also be recorded that tens of thousands of African migrants left South Africa because they no longer believed they could remain safely in their homes, workplaces and communities. Xenophobic mobilisation led to the violation of their fundamental rights, displacement from communities and, ultimately, expulsion from the country.
Dr Jean Pierre Misago is a Senior Researcher at the African Centre for Migration & Society, at the University of the Witwatersrand.
