More than 20,000 migrants lead mass exodus from South Africa as local residents threaten horrid action

Thousands of migrants from other African countries have been leaving South Africa ahead of the June 30 Deadline.

This is when two of the country’s most prominent anti-immigration movements, March and March and Operation Dudula, have declared that all undocumented foreign nationals must leave, or the country will be “shut down.”

The June 30 deadline, first popularized by March and March founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma in May, has fueled months of escalating protests, xenophobic attacks, and a wave of government-assisted and self-funded departures among migrants who say they no longer feel safe.

According to recent reports more than 10,000 Malawians gathered at a temporary shelter in Durban in recent weeks to attempt to return home.

Some 8,000 other Malawians have since left on buses provided by their government or private sponsors.

Nigeria and Ghana have repatriated nearly 2,000 citizens combined on flights funded by their respective governments citing safety concerns, and officials in both countries say further evacuations are planned.

Zimbabwe and Mozambique have repatriated smaller numbers.

The Zimbabwean embassy in Pretoria has urged its nationals, who form one of the largest foreign communities in South Africa, with some estimates exceeding 1 million, to remain vigilant, avoid protest areas, and limit unnecessary movement.

Neither March and March nor Operation Dudula holds any government authority.

South African law affords no legal basis for a private deadline on who may remain in the country.

Yet the threat has nonetheless reshaped daily life for migrant communities.

Human Rights Watch reported in May that vigilantes had carried out violent attacks on African and Asian foreign nationals, with little apparent police response, documenting shop owners being beaten, pepper-sprayed, and assaulted with golf clubs and sjamboks.

Foreign-owned shops and vehicles have been set alight in several cities, and businesses have temporarily closed amid fears of looting.

The movements have framed their campaign as a response to unemployment, crime, and pressure on public services, and have demanded a state of emergency regarding illegal immigration, a halt to processing refugee applications, and accelerated deportations.

Operation Dudula, founded in 2021, has a documented history of blocking migrants from accessing health facilities and schools.

A South Gauteng High Court injunction in November 2025 ruled the practice unlawful after a one-year-old Malawian boy died in July 2025 when the group blocked his family from accessing two clinics in Alexandra because they lacked South African identity cards.

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on June 7, announcing a crackdown and fast-tracked deportations of undocumented migrants in an apparent attempt to defuse the mounting tension, while officials insisted any enforcement would follow legal process rather than vigilante action.

Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia said police were prepared for Tuesday’s protests, with a reported deployment costing 600 million rands, about US$36.5 million, to maintain order.

The South African Human Rights Commission has separately warned of a “possible human rights crisis” as tensions continue to rise.

 South Africa has experienced recurring waves of xenophobic violence since 2008, when nationwide attacks killed 62 people, including South Africans and nationals of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Somalia.

According to Xenowatch, a research project at the University of the Witwatersrand, more than 430 people have been killed in xenophobic attacks in the country since then.

Researchers studying the current wave note that anti-migrant campaigns have increasingly adopted the language of community protection and grassroots democracy, even as they target a population of roughly 2.4 million documented foreign nationals, or under 4 percent of South Africa’s 62 million people, according to 2022 census figures. Critics of the government say the true number, including undocumented migrants, is considerably higher.