What’s behind South Africa’s anti-migrant movement?

Issue #402: The focus this week is growing anti-migrant hate in South Africa. I’ve been sitting on this story for months. It felt too vast, and my former intern Pia and I could not properly make sense of it from Berlin. So we postponed publication and kept watching. That turned out to be quite useful. (For once, procrastination turned out to be a good editorial strategy.)

Because as complex as it is to analyze the recent AfD win in Germany’s Sachsen-Anhalt last week, this too has many different perspectives to it that complicate the picture. But most importantly, I wanted to understand: Just why is South Africa, the country that beat apartheid, kicking out people from countries that helped defeat it? Perhaps the answer is simple: most of the country was born after 1994. They never lived the solidarity, only inherited the freedom.

Also this week: Over 171 million schoolchildren missed classes because of climate disasters, the Houthis try Claude for weapons development, an optimistic story about deforestation, a new fund against FGM, and so much more.

This newsletter has been edited by Jonathan Ramsay.

There’s a new random deadline for undocumented migrants to leave South Africa. It’s in two weeks.

Refresher: “Undocumented foreigners must leave South Africa by June 30, 2026,” said anti-migrant organizations (not the government) in South Africa, specifically these two: March and March, and Operation Dudula. The random deadline expired. But before it did, more than 25,000 migrants from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Ghana left the country. By the end of the day of June 30, at least four people were killed and thousands were displaced. One of the organizers of that day told a crowd in Durban that there would be protests every Thursday, from then on, until their demands were met (among them: no more letting in refugees, mass deportations, a declaration that illegal immigration is a national disaster). Just so you know: this is not a mainstream movement, but it is a movement to pay attention to.

What happened A new unofficial deadline has reportedly been set for September 30, demanding again that undocumented migrants leave.

Why this matters:South Africa may be watching anti-migrant anger turn into a lasting political movement.

Who’s behind this anti-migrant hate?
The short answer: There is no single mastermind behind it.

What we know:

• The online campaign has been building for years. South African outlet Daily Maverick analyzed almost four million posts and traced the campaign back to the #PutSouthAfricansFirst hashtag, which emerged in 2020. It spread false claims that African migrants were responsible for unemployment, crime, and failing public services.

• There may be powerful political connections. Reporting has examined possible links to former president Jacob Zuma’s political network, alleged Russian funding, and an alliance with white nationalist and international far-right groups.

• The economic anger is real. South Africa’s economy has barely grown over the past decade. By early 2026, official unemployment stood at 32.7 percent. Among 15 to 24-year-olds, it was 60.9 percent. Among 25 to 34-year-olds, it was 40.6 percent.

But here is the important part: Even if all that helped organize the protests, that does not mean the movement itself is fabricated. William Shoki, editor of Africa Is a Country, argues that their demands are authentic, politically organized, and probably “here to stay.”

Good to know: Anti-migrant violence is also not new in South Africa. In May 2008, at least 62 people were killed and more than 100,000 displaced. Further attacks followed in 2015 and 2019.

This is the same South Africa that is suing Israel for genocide?
Yes, South Africa’s current genocide case against Israel (also) comes from South Africa’s own moral legacy of its liberation movement; they are convinced that defeating apartheid gives them that moral legacy. However, that ‘defeating apartheid’ story is getting older and older.

Here are a few articles that speak to this:

• There is a growing gap between foreign and domestic policy. Political analyst Imraan Buccus writes, the country is “increasingly unable to uphold that legacy at home.” He points to corruption, political assassinations, failing public services, and attacks on activists. Operation Dudula is his clearest example. Its members have prevented migrants from entering clinics and hospitals, even though South Africa’s Bill of Rights protects access to healthcare regardless of nationality. He writes, ‘where’s the state here?’

• The political power of the apartheid story is fading. Shoki even goes so far as to say that “South Africa has become a post-post-apartheid society.” Apartheid still shapes the country, but the promises and political language of 1994 no longer speak to how many people understand their lives today. 1994 never overcame the economic exclusion apartheid created.

• Other Africans are skeptical. Many across the continent read what’s happening here as “ Afrophobia” and say, ‘really, this is the South Africa that supposedly beat apartheid? Mhm.’

• Post-1994 governments also played a part in creating this problem. As Shoki argues, suspicion toward African migrants did not suddenly appear. It was already present at the beginning of South Africa’s democratic era. Today, the government condemns xenophobic violence, but at the same time, it is making immigration rules stricter and deporting more people. Since 2024, South Africa has officially deported around 109,000 people. That is a 46 percent increase from the previous...