This archive report was first published on 4 September 2019.
South Africa has been plagued by xenophobic attacks, with a significant spike in 2008 and 2015. According to the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS), violent attacks peaked in 2008, resulting in the deaths of over 60 people and thousands displaced.
The ACMS has monitored these attacks across South Africa since 1994, using its Xenowatch tracker to collate media reports and information from activists, victims, and observers. In 2015, there were outbreaks of violence against non-South Africans, mostly in the cities of Durban and Johannesburg, leading to the deployment of the army to deter further unrest.
Despite the government's efforts to raise public awareness and improve access to services for victims of discrimination, human rights groups have called for the government to publicly recognize attacks on foreigners as xenophobic. In a statement published in October 2018, South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, blamed the governing ANC party for a 'scourge of xenophobic violence.'
South Africa's commercial hub, Johannesburg, has been particularly affected by the violence, with rioters torching vehicles and looting shops, many of which are owned by foreign nationals. The Nigerian government has summoned the South Africa's high commissioner, alleging that Nigerian-owned businesses have been targeted.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the attacks, saying 'there can be no justification for any South African to attack people from other countries.'
According to the ACMS, Gauteng province, which includes South Africa's largest city Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria, has the highest rate of violence against foreign nationals, followed by the Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. The violence is often triggered by local disputes, with migrants being accused of taking jobs away from South Africans.
Foreign-run shops have been looted and destroyed, and the country has experienced poor economic performance, with officially recorded unemployment at more than 27 percent at the end of last year. The country has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with Sharon Ekambaram, who runs the refugee and migrant rights programme for Lawyers for Human Rights, attributing the causes to poverty and its roots in apartheid.
