On September 3, violence broke out when members of the anti-immigration group March and March confronted refugees living on the pavement outside the Durban Refugee Reception Centre on Che Guevara Road. The clash left at least four people injured and forced police to intervene. This was one in a series of protests by March and March demanding that undocumented foreign nationals leave South Africa by September 30, a deadline that has spread anxiety among migrant communities across the country.
For months, hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees from countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Mozambique, and Tanzania had lived on the pavement outside the Home Affairs centre in Durban. They fled violence at home, seeking sanctuary near government offices. Instead, they faced months exposed to the elements, relying on volunteers and civil society groups for food and medicine. Conditions worsened until a man with tuberculosis died at the encampment.
Bahebwa, a refugee who lived in the camp, said, “It has been very tough. Never before have I experienced something like this.” The street became their home, but it offered no safety from the hostility they hoped to escape.
March and March say their protests target undocumented migrants and crime, not foreigners in general. Yet refugees say that even those with official papers are not safe. Earlier this year, six refugee salon workers near Warwick Street Market were attacked with sticks, two ending up in hospital. Bahebwa said police refused to open cases, telling victims, “We can’t open cases because we are foreigners. We had nowhere to go.”
The government cleared the Durban pavement camp in mid-September. Residents faced a choice: return to dangerous neighborhoods they had fled or accept temporary placement at Lindela, a government-run immigration detention centre hundreds of kilometres away in Gauteng. On September 15, authorities bused 274 people to Lindela. Around 150 others stayed in Durban to find alternative shelter.
Kafuti Muyumba, a Congolese small business owner and community representative, said returning to previous neighborhoods is frightening. “People are afraid,” he said. “Even the police allow March and March violence. They came with sticks and say we are attacking them.” He recalled xenophobic outbreaks in 2008 and 2015 that displaced thousands and deep distrust of the police, who refugees say do not act fairly. “Some of them are also saying we must go,” he added.
The government has stepped up immigration enforcement in recent months. Between June 14 and August 20, officials processed 86,596 foreign nationals for deportation and repatriation through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration. Malawians made up the largest group, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans. Authorities say 90 percent entered illegally, with 95 percent crossing outside official border posts. The government warns that citizens have no legal right to deport others and that the September 30 deadline has no legal force.
Still, the deadline has created panic. Bishop Raphael Bahebwa, who came to South Africa from the DRC 26 years ago and now lives in hiding, said the current political climate feels different. “I am in hiding now because they say they are going to kill me for speaking about the rights of foreigners,” he said.
For many refugees, returning home is impossible. Muyumba said, “There is still war there,” referring to ongoing conflict in the Congo. As the September 30 deadline approaches, migrants face uncertain futures. Some remain in detention far from home. Others try to find shelter in communities they once fled. The fear and hostility on South African streets remain.
According to Joy Online.
