Public Statement on Rising Xenophobia, Hate Crimes and Vigilantism in South Africa

The Hate Crimes Working Group (HCWG) expresses its grave concern regarding the escalating xenophobic rhetoric, intimidation, and violence associated with the so-called “March & March” protests and related anti-migrant mobilisations across South Africa.

We unequivocally condemn all acts of violence, threats, harassment, intimidation, unlawful searches, identity checks, destruction of property, and incitement directed at migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and foreign nationals. These actions are not acts of patriotism or community protection. They are unlawful, dangerous, and deeply damaging to South Africa’s constitutional democracy.

These actions are not acts of patriotism or community protection.

South Africa bears the deep scars of past xenophobic violence. We cannot allow fear, disinformation, and political opportunism to once again incite hostility and attacks against vulnerable communities. In these environments of hatred and division, other forms of violence and discrimination — including femicide, homophobia, transphobia, and intersexphobia — are often intensified. Those most at risk, who would ordinarily seek protection, support, or refuge as migrants, but they are too often excluded, abandoned, or denied assistance at the very moment they are most vulnerable.

Hate Crimes and the Law

The Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act, 2023, defines a hate crime as any criminal offence motivated by prejudice or intolerance based on characteristics including nationality, migrant, or refugee status. Actions associated with the March & March protests — including assault, intimidation, harassment, threats, and attacks on foreign-owned businesses — fall squarely within this statutory framework and may constitute prosecutable hate crimes.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa guarantees equality before the law and prohibits discrimination on grounds including race, ethnicity, and social origin. Xenophobic violence undermines these constitutional protections by collectively targeting migrants and refugees as scapegoats for systemic socio-economic failures.

We further note with concern the documented anti-migrant rhetoric used during these protests. Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have repeatedly warned that xenophobic scapegoating creates an environment where violence becomes normalised and justified. Speech that incites hostility and creates a real risk of physical violence constitutes hate speech and incitement under South African law.

Vigilantism is Illegal

HCWG is particularly alarmed by reports of protesters conducting unlawful identity checks, searching private property, stopping individuals in public spaces, and targeting foreign-owned businesses. These actions amount to vigilantism and the unlawful assumption of state powers.

No civilian group has the authority to enforce immigration law, conduct raids, demand documentation, or intimidate people based on nationality or language. Such conduct erodes the rule of law and places innocent lives at risk.

No civilian group has the authority to enforce immigration law, conduct raids, demand documentation, or intimidate people based on nationality or language.

The Danger of Disinformation

We are deeply concerned by the widespread disinformation being circulated regarding undocumented migrants and the erroneous claims that they exert a burden on South Africa’s public systems, or even that human rights defenders are defending criminals who happen to be migrants. South African laws must be applied to all those who live in South Africa without showing favour to any group or individual that commits crime.

Claims that undocumented migrants are responsible for the collapse of healthcare, unemployment, crime, or service delivery are not supported by evidence. Estimates consistently indicate that undocumented migrants constitute a relatively small percentage of the population — approximately 4%. Yet migrants are being blamed for failures that are fundamentally rooted in corruption, maladministration, state capture, procurement fraud, embezzlement, and systemic governance failures within South African state institutions.

South Africa’s healthcare system is not collapsing because migrants seek healthcare. It is collapsing because billions of rand have been lost through corruption, fraud, mismanagement, infrastructure neglect, staffing shortages, and procurement failures — much of it committed within South African state structures themselves.

Moreover, many undocumented migrants avoid hospitals and clinics precisely because they fear arrest, detention, or deportation. The narrative that migrants are freely overwhelming public healthcare systems is therefore both misleading and malicious.

The crisis surrounding documentation and migration management is fundamentally a failure of the Department of Home Affairs. The inefficiency, backlogs, corruption, and dysfunction within Home Affairs have left both migrants and South African citizens trapped in administrative limbo. Alarmingly, millions of South Africans themselves continue to experience documentation barriers and delays. The problem is institutional dysfunction — not the existence of migrants.

8 myths about migrants, asylum seekers and undocumented people

We Must Reject Scapegoating

South Africans are facing legitimate challenges, including unemployment, poverty, inequality, crime, rising living costs, and deteriorating public services. Public frustration is understandable, and accountability must be directed toward those genuinely responsible for these systemic failures. Corruption, maladministration, fraud, and governance failures can only be addressed through ethical leadership, effective governance, and accountability within South African state institutions.

Xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and gender-based violence, including femicide, do not resolve these crises; they merely deepen social division and further undermine the fabric of South African society.

Xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and gender-based violence, including femicide, do not resolve these crises

Our Call

The HCWG calls on:

Political leaders, public officials, and community leaders to unequivocally condemn xenophobia and refrain from inflammatory rhetoric.
Law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute all acts of xenophobic violence, intimidation, hate crimes, and vigilantism.
The Department of Home Affairs to urgently address systemic failures, corruption, inefficiency, and documentation backlogs.
Civil society, faith communities, and the media to actively counter misinformation and promote human rights and social cohesion.
All South Africans to reject hatred and defend the constitutional values of dignity, equality, and human rights for all who live in South Africa.

South Africa’s democracy was built on the rejection of discrimination, exclusion, and dehumanisation. We cannot honour that legacy while allowing hate and violence to strip people of safety, dignity, and protection under the law.