African migrants in South Africa are living in fear ahead of a 30 September deadline set by an anti-immigration movement for undocumented foreigners to leave the country amid warnings of further protests and concerns that violence could escalate.
The deadline, issued by the activist group March and March, has heightened anxiety in migrant communities across the country, particularly in Durban where tensions between activists and refugees have already led to confrontations and injuries.
Refugees and asylum seekers in Durban report that hostility is often directed at foreigners regardless of their legal status.
For months, hundreds of migrants from countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Mozambique and Tanzania camped outside the Durban Refugee Reception Centre, saying they had fled communities where they feared anti-foreigner attacks.
Earlier this month tensions flared when members of March and March confronted refugees and asylum seekers outside the centre, resulting in at least four people injured during skirmishes.
The latest standoff is part of a longer history of anti-migrant sentiment in South Africa where periodic outbreaks of xenophobic violence have targeted foreign nationals from elsewhere in Africa.
Economic hardship, high unemployment and perceptions that migrants compete for jobs, housing and public services have frequently fuelled public resentment despite repeated calls from rights groups and government officials to distinguish between documented and undocumented migration.
The renewed tensions come as South Africa heads towards local government elections on 4 November, with immigration emerging as a prominent political and social issue.
March and March, which has organised demonstrations in several parts of the country this year, says its campaign is aimed at undocumented migration, crime and deteriorating living conditions in South African communities. The group has rejected accusations of xenophobia, insisting that it is targeting illegal immigration rather than foreign nationals in general.
JN/APA