ANTI-FOREIGNER UNREST: ‘I am leaving’ — Migrants speak of fear, uncertainty as xenophobic protests spread

As anti-foreigner protests spread, migrants are faced with a choice: hope the protests, intimidation and violence subside or leave South Africa.

Sitting at Park Station, Johannesburg, on Thursday, 4 June 2026, 30-year-old James Alan was waiting with four friends for a bus to Malawi.

“I am leaving due to the anti-immigrant protests. My mother has been calling me back home. I think it is time I listen to her,” he said.

“I do not have a choice, I am leaving. It will not help me to wait and see what will happen first. We know what will happen. I think it is just safe for me to go home.”

As the anti-foreigner movement has been building throughout the year and has intensified over the past two weeks, migrants like Alan face a difficult choice: hope the protests, intimidation and violence subsides or leave South Africa.

Daily Maverick interviewed 10 foreign migrants in Johannesburg on Wednesday and Thursday to ask whether they had faced increased threats ahead of March and March’s 30 June deadline for undocumented migrants to leave the country, and what their plans were.

March and March hasn’t clearly explained its plans for what will happen on 30 June.

Daily Maverick didn’t question their immigration status, and due to fear, no one agreed to have their photo taken. Some requested anonymity.

Alan worked as a street vendor in Johannesburg, but said he hadn’t been able to work efficiently since the protests started.

“I just decided to take the little money saved up and bought myself a bus ticket. I will figure it out at home. I think I will come back only if the situation dies down; we all know it will eventually.”

Other migrants at Park Station said they were travelling to other parts of South Africa to visit family members and sort out their visas while deciding what to do next.

Majakaza Mhlongo (42), from Mozambique, said he had been living in Joburg for four years, but was going to Queenstown, Eastern Cape, to see his brother there.

“If the situation is bad, I will be forced to go back home,” he said.

“I am afraid. I cannot live with fear. If I am forced to go, I will go,” he added.

“As you can see, some people are leaving. I will not be happy if I am forced to leave because I came to South Africa for work… I have been here for the past four years. I cannot just leave and start all over.”

Nigerian Sunnyboy Eba (54) was also at Park Station. He said he had been in South Africa for 25 years and had a family here. He lives in Durban but was in Joburg “to solve my paper, including Visa and passports”.

He said the anti-foreigner groups were “bother