Hundreds of foreign nationals are seeking emergency shelter in community halls along South Africa’s southern coast after vigilante mobs launched door-to-door sweeps, forcing them out of their homes.
Displaced families, primarily from Malawi and Mozambique, recounted harrowing escapes to reporters. Many spent multiple nights hiding in the surrounding mountains and bushland before seeking refuge in small-town community centers.
“They said ‘you are a foreigner, you don’t belong in South Africa, so you must go,'” Thomas Vincent Baloyi, a 32-year-old Mozambican national, told AFP. He has lived legally in South Africa for 16 years, working in construction and gardening. “They just chased us away like dogs… that is unfair because, actually, I’m a human being.”
Escalating Violence and Casualties
Weeks of low-level, anti-migrant demonstrations erupted into severe violence over the weekend. In the coastal town of Mossel Bay, located 250 kilometers up the coast from Gansbaai, a mob torched 55 informal housing shacks.
The unrest has turned fatal, marking the first deaths associated with this new wave of protests:
- The South African Police Service (SAPS) confirmed that two Mozambican nationals were killed during activities tied to the demonstrations.
- The Mozambican Government disputed the death toll, claiming that five of its citizens were killed as a direct result of “xenophobic attacks.”
The Mozambican government also reported that roughly 300 citizens had already fled back across the border on Saturday, with hundreds more expected to follow. In response to the crisis, Ghana has repatriated 300 of its citizens by air, and Nigeria has announced plans for emergency evacuation flights.
June 30 Ultimatum Sparks Lawlessness
The spike in violence follows an ultimatum issued by a fringe anti-illegal migrant group, demanding all undocumented foreigners leave South Africa by June 30.
In response, small bands of locals armed with whips, sticks, wooden clubs, and axes have taken to the streets to enforce the demand, targeting all foreign nationals regardless of their legal status.
“They were dragging people out of their houses… whether you are legal or illegal, they say they don’t want any foreign nationals in the township,” said local councillor Msa Nomatiti.
Nomatiti reported that more than 500 people fled their homes on Monday alone in a Gansbaai informal settlement. He also alleged that some of the groups conducting the door-to-door searches were accompanied by local police.
Overflowing Shelters and Desperate Escapes
By Tuesday night, families could be seen hauling their belongings through the dark and rain toward makeshift sanctuaries. Local authorities have dispatched government officials to the region to assist with lost documentation and coordinate voluntary repatriation efforts.
The humanitarian strain on local communities is growing rapidly:
- Gansbaai: Around 50 people crammed into a tiny local mosque alongside their belongings, sharing a single toilet and tap.
- Kleinmond: Nearly 100 mostly Malawian nationals took shelter in a community hall lined with bags of clothes and blankets. Many had fled into the mountains after landlords warned them of incoming mobs.
- Stanford: Displaced families reported that their abandoned homes had already been looted.
“The thieves, they have already taken all our stuff at home, so we don’t have anything,” said Talibo Mbewe, a Malawian national sheltering in Stanford. “But it’s better to go home without anything than to lose our lives.”
