Ladd Serwat on anti-immigration protests in South Africa

Ladd Serwat, Africa Senior Analyst at ACLED, said: 

"In recent days, major anti-immigration demonstrations broke out in Pretoria and Johannesburg, South Africa. Organized by the citizen-led March & March movement and supported by groups like Operation Dudula, they have garnered visible backing from multiple political parties, including the Inkatha Freedom Party and Patriotic Alliance, as well as members within the ActionSA and uMkhonto we Sizwe parties. The support from various political parties signals that anti-immigrant sentiment is increasingly popular across the political spectrum. Even parties that have distanced themselves from the demonstrations, such as the Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus, have positioned their policies to call for stricter immigration enforcement.

“With local elections scheduled for November, these dynamics suggest that anti-immigration rhetoric is likely to become an increasingly central and competitive campaign issue, raising risks of further mobilization and the potential of violence targeting foreign nationals as seen in previous years."