African governments have called on South Africa to contain escalating anti-immigrant violence, with some nations offering evacuation support to their citizens amid growing regional alarm.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the rising climate of prejudice and called for cross-border cooperation to resolve the crisis, which has been driven by frustration over high unemployment and undocumented migration.
Nigerian missionary Stanley Uba, who has spent more than a decade building a life in South Africa, told reporters that his sense of stability is fracturing. Even legal residents, he said, are becoming increasingly cautious.
“For somebody like me, I have nothing to fear. But all I would say at this point in time is that as long as this state of violence is on, I have to avoid gray areas,” Uba said. “However, there is this fear of being attacked. It’s there. I can’t deny that.”
Since 2008, South Africa has experienced repeated waves of deadly anti-immigrant unrest. Uba believes the violence has deeply damaged the country’s standing across the continent.
“South Africa might not recover from the reputational damage of xenophobic attacks or afrophobic attacks in many years to come because Africans are watching. Young kids are watching,” he said. “People are traumatized. Imagine young kids being chased out of schools just because they are not South Africans.”
For many South Africans, however, the issue is tied to economic survival. With unemployment above 30%, frustration over jobs, housing and public services is increasingly directed at undocumented immigrants.
“It does affect us as South Africans. I don’t really have a problem with them amongst us, but they do affect us in terms of overpopulation,” one resident said. “Coming from a faraway place, you do settle for less. And so in that way we end up having no jobs as South Africans because they’ve taken all the jobs.”
Research suggests immigrants often fill labor gaps and contribute to local trade and economic activity, but those arguments have done little to calm tensions on the ground.
“What the government is supposed to do is to make sure that the law is tight and everyone who comes into the country comes legally, not illegal,” another resident added.
The tensions are now drawing regional concern. During a recent bilateral meeting, President Ramaphosa and Mozambican President Daniel Chapo agreed that the crisis requires cooperation beyond South Africa’s borders.
“President Chapo and myself discussed this matter, and we agreed that we should work together,” Ramaphosa said. “It’s not only one country that is affected. All countries that have foreign nationals in South Africa are also affected. So we must all work together, join hands to find solutions to this problem.”
Chapo added: “In our relation, security and peace is very important. Any country in the world, we don’t see development without security and peace. That’s why we are here to talk about our security, our peace, and the security and peace of our people.”
With undocumented immigration estimates running into the millions, pressure on South Africa’s government is intensifying. In communities struggling with poverty, unemployment and failing services, the line between economic frustration and targeted violence remains dangerously blurred.
South Africa has dismissed claims of xenophobia, describing recent incidents involving foreign nationals as isolated. The nation’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said the government had swiftly condemned confrontational acts following protests against African foreigners that escalated into violence in various cities.
The response follows Ghana’s call for the African Union to address the alleged xenophobic attacks during its media coordination summit in June.