A court order this week thrust South Africa’s asylum processing system back into operation, requiring the government to resume handling asylum applications, and the practical consequences were immediate. Anti-migrant protests broke out across the country on Thursday. Some turned violent, according to local media reports, with incidents recorded in the coastal city of Durban and the Soweto township of Johannesburg.
The unrest centered on the places where the asylum system actually functions: refugee centers and the shops and streets around them. In Durban, the trouble reportedly followed a protest by a group demanding that a refugee center stop processing asylum applications. About 10 vehicles were overturned and set on fire. Foreign-owned shops were looted.
In Soweto, residents clashed with foreign shop owners, and gunshots were heard, according to the broadcaster Newzroom Afrika. Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Superintendent Xolani Fihla told SABC television that at least nine vehicles were torched.
“It’s reported that there were clashes between foreign nationals in the area and South African nationals,” Fihla said. “At the present moment, I can confirm that no injuries have been reported.”
The court ruling that reignited these tensions found that certain provisions of the government’s refugee policy were unconstitutional. The court explained that the provisions prevented individuals from accessing the asylum system on procedural grounds, such as having entered the country illegally. In other words, the judgment struck down barriers that had kept people out of the processing queue altogether.
The operational effect has been visible at the refugee centers themselves. Hundreds of people have recently flocked to government refugee centers, reportedly including some who do not qualify for asylum. That sudden surge in demand at these facilities has become the flashpoint for the unrest now playing out on the streets.
Meanwhile, the government moved quickly to manage expectations about what the ruling delivers. On Wednesday, it emphasized that the judgment “does not grant refugee status or permanent residence automatically to anyone who enters South Africa.” The statement drew a line between the resumption of processing, which the court ordered, and any guarantee of outcome for those entering the system.
The flare-up comes after months of anti-immigrant protests in South Africa this year. Populist and anti-immigrant groups have demanded that undocumented foreign nationals leave by June 30. Amid international criticism, tens of thousands of people have fled the country, while some were repatriated by their governments.
Pressure on services is a recurring theme in the country’s immigration debate. Migrants are often blamed for taking jobs, fueling crime, and straining public services. Social scientists, however, have said these accusations are not supported by evidence. South Africa has a third of its population unemployed, yet it remains the largest economy in Africa and continues to attract migrants, a combination that keeps demand on public infrastructure and services high regardless of who is blamed for it.
For now, the immediate test is whether the government can keep asylum processing running without further escalation. The court has required the system to accept applications it had previously been turning away on procedural grounds. Refugee centers are absorbing hundreds of new arrivals, and the groups opposed to that processing have shown they are willing to disrupt it directly, as the demand that the Durban center stop handling applications makes clear. Whether the centers can operate safely, and whether police can prevent a repeat of the vehicle burnings and looting seen in Durban and Soweto, will shape how the ruling plays out in practice.
Further reporting on the protests and the court ruling is available at https://www.dw.com/en/south-africa-anti-migrant-protests-turn-violent/a-79605037.