4th July 2026
The Migrant Workers Voice Organisation www.migrantworkersvoice.org strongly condemns the recent and ongoing xenophobic attacks, intimidation, discrimination, and vigilante violence directed at foreign nationals in South Africa. These attacks are unacceptable under any circumstances and represent a serious violation of human dignity, human rights, and the rule of law. While the organisation recognises that South Africa, like many countries, faces real social and economic pressures, those pressures can never justify lawlessness, hatred, or the targeting of migrants who are simply trying to survive, work, and contribute to society.
The right to peaceful protest does not include the right to assault, threaten, expel, or dehumanise foreign nationals (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2026; Human Rights Watch, 2026).
The organisation notes with grave concern that the pattern of xenophobic violence in South Africa has become increasingly alarming. Reports indicate that South Africa recorded 406 verified xenophobic incidents between 2022 and 2025, with 75 deaths linked to those incidents (IOL, 2026). In 2025 alone, 151 incidents were documented, and in the first five months of 2026, a further 22 incidents were recorded, including 14 violent attacks that followed anti-migrant protests in some areas (IOL, 2026).
These figures show that xenophobia is not an isolated problem or a series of misunderstandings, but a persistent and dangerous pattern that continues to place foreign nationals at risk (IOL, 2026; African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2026).
The Migrant Workers Voice Organisation further emphasises that migrants are not the cause of South Africa’s unemployment crisis or broader economic hardship. Government statements drawing on Statistics South Africa data have shown that foreign-born persons were twice as likely to be employed as locally born South Africans, with a foreign-born unemployment rate of 18.2% compared with 34% among locally born persons (IOL, 2026).
This evidence exposes the false narrative that migrants are “stealing jobs,” when in reality they are often participating in the labour market under highly vulnerable conditions. It is therefore unjust and dangerous to use migrants as scapegoats for deep-rooted structural economic challenges (IOL, 2026).
The organisation stresses that the state has a duty to protect everyone within its borders, regardless of nationality, immigration status, or legal category. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has warned that xenophobic attacks and vigilante conduct against migrants violate the rights to equality, dignity, security, life, property, and freedom from discrimination under the African Charter (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2026).
The Commission also called on the Government of South Africa to ensure that attacks are investigated, perpetrators are brought to justice, and political or community rhetoric that fuels division is restrained (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2026). When authorities fail to act decisively against xenophobic attacks, they allow fear and impunity to grow, and they send a harmful message that violence against migrants is tolerable (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2026).
The organisation therefore calls on the South African government, law enforcement agencies, community leaders, and civil society to take immediate and concrete action to stop xenophobic violence, investigate and prosecute perpetrators, dismantle vigilante groups, and ensure the protection of migrants in vulnerable areas (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2026). It also urges political and community leaders to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric that fuels division and to instead promote unity, coexistence, and shared responsibility. No society can thrive when one group is encouraged to see another as an enemy (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2026).
Speaking on behalf of the Migrant Workers Voice Organisation and the Federation of Ugandan Migrant Workers Associations (FUMWA), its President, Mr. Kayonde Abdallah, said the organisations stand in solidarity with all foreign nationals who have been affected by these attacks and reaffirm that migration is a reality of the modern world shaped by economic interdependence, displacement, and human aspiration. He said no country can survive in isolation, and no government should permit its citizens to commit violence against others under the guise of protest or nationalism.
According to him, xenophobia is not patriotism; it is a failure of humanity, a failure of leadership, and a direct attack on the principles that should protect every person (Migrant Workers' Voice, 2025; African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2026; IMBISA, 2026).
