Political situation in South Africa

Thousands protest against migrants in South Africa

Thousands of people took part in the largest anti-immigration demonstration in South Africa since 2008 on Tuesday, reports the AP.

Previous similar demonstrations have led to violence. Therefore, the police deployed hundreds of police officers in several cities, including Johannesburg.

The demonstrations were held after what some groups called “deadline day”, June 30, when all migrants who are illegally in the country were urged to leave South Africa.

“Today is the last day. After today, we will deal with our president and our country. We do not want outsiders to come here and interfere,” says protester Nkele Thebe at the start of the demonstration in Johannesburg.

The government has dismissed the initiative and stressed that only the authorities have the authority to enforce the country’s migration laws.

Migrants have recently been accused of being behind, among other things, the country's rising crime rate and high unemployment among South Africans.

Migrants leave South Africa: "We weren't safe"

At the same time that thousands of people gathered in several South African cities to demonstrate against illegal migrants, thousands of migrants from Malawi and Zimbabwe gathered outside their respective consulates in the hope of being able to return home. This is reported by the AP.

The border crossing to Zimbabwe has also seen a sharp increase in traffic in recent days as buses with migrants left South Africa.

Nigeria is one of the countries that has previously offered its citizens help to return from South Africa due to the increasingly hostile tone. So far, 632 Nigerians have voluntarily returned to Nigeria, and thousands have signed up for Nigeria's consular list to be flown home.

“We weren’t safe, so we had to leave,” says Emmanuella Akagbosun, who moved to South Africa in 2017 but has now returned to Nigeria.