Immigration has surged to the forefront of national debate as a new protest force — the March and March movement — gains momentum, pressing for the mass deportation of undocumented migrants by 30 June 2026.
That demand has landed in a combustible climate marked by a rise in anti-immigrant violence and a wave of repatriations of foreign nationals carried out by several African governments, developments that have sharpened public attention on who belongs, who does not, and what the state should do next.
Leaders of the anti-immigrant protest movement say their campaign is driven by mounting pressures at home: rising unemployment, public services that are increasingly strained, and a worsening sense of insecurity.
The issue, however, is not simply whether these grievances reflect real hardship — they do — but whether immigrants are actually to blame for them, write Justin Visagie and Ruth Castel-Branco for The Conversation Africa.
