South Africa anti-migrant protests turn violent in Soweto and Durban

Anti-migrant protests in South Africa turned violent on Thursday in Johannesburg's Soweto township and the coastal city of Durban. Cars were torched, foreign-run businesses were forced to close and looting was reported as police moved to disperse crowds. The unrest came amid anger over a Constitutional Court asylum ruling and government efforts to deal with overcrowding at refugee and asylum offices.

Sponsored

Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane said 10 vehicles were torched in Johannesburg and 14 in Durban. Police also said three people were arrested in Durban. In Soweto, residents were seen carrying groceries out of a shop they said was owned by a Somali national, before fleeing when police arrived.

In Durban, reporters saw cars set alight in the city centre and foreign-owned shops looted. Police used rubber bullets in Durban to break up protesters, according to reporters at the scene. The violence affected foreign-run businesses in both cities and added to pressure on local authorities already dealing with large numbers of asylum applications.

Government officials said the unrest was being fuelled by false claims about the court ruling, which they said had been misrepresented online and in public debate. The protests are linked to a July Constitutional Court decision that removed some procedural barriers to seeking asylum, including for people who entered South Africa irregularly, lacked asylum transit visas, or missed reporting deadlines. The ruling did not automatically grant refugee status, permanent residence or other legal rights to undocumented migrants, according to government spokesperson William Baloyi.

Sponsored

Officials said the current surge in applications has overwhelmed asylum offices, prompting an urgent briefing by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration. The unrest also fits into a wider pattern of anti-immigrant mobilisation in South Africa, where populist groups have repeatedly targeted undocumented foreign nationals. Those campaigns have at times forced tens of thousands of people to flee, with some later repatriated by their governments.

South Africa has long faced tensions over migration, jobs and access to public services, and the latest violence shows how quickly legal and administrative changes can become flashpoints on the ground. What remains unclear is whether the violence will spread beyond Soweto and Durban or prompt further arrests. It is also not yet clear how many businesses were damaged or how many people were affected by the closures and looting.

The government is expected to continue responding to the asylum-office backlog while police monitor for further unrest.

#SouthAfrica #Soweto #Durban #antimigrantprotests #asylumruling

Sponsored