The streets of Johannesburg’s inner city have turned into a killing floor. As the clock ticks toward a hard deportation deadline, migrants are being hunted with machetes. Sources on the ground confirm at least 12 dead in the last 48 hours, with dozens more wounded. The attacks are not random. They are organised. They are brutal. And they are happening with impunity.
A Zimbabwean national, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, described the scene: ‘They come in groups, three or four men, with blades. They don’t ask questions. They just swing.’ The attacks have concentrated in areas like Hillbrow and Yeoville, neighbourhoods already teeming with tension as the government’s deadline for voluntary departure approaches. Operation Dudula, a vigilante group with growing political backing, has been linked to the violence. Its leader, Nhlanhla Lux, did not respond to requests for comment.
Leaked internal police documents show that officers have been ordered not to intervene unless ‘absolute necessity’ arises. A senior police source, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said: ‘We are being told to stand down. The politicians want a crackdown, but they don’t want the blood on their hands.’ The South African Police Service denied any such orders, but the evidence suggests otherwise.
The deportation deadline, set for midnight on Thursday, is the result of a controversial new policy requiring all undocumented migrants to leave or face forced removal. Human rights lawyers have challenged the policy in court, but a judge refused an injunction. Now the streets are the battlefield.
Follow the money. Who profits from this chaos? Private security firms have seen a surge in contracts for ‘community protection’ in and around the affected areas. One such firm, ShieldGuard, has reported a 300% increase in revenue over the past month. ShieldGuard’s CEO, a former police commissioner, sits on the board of a company that owns the detention centres where migrants will be held. The overlaps are too many to be coincidence.
‘This is a land grab dressed up as immigration control,’ said a source within the Department of Home Affairs. ‘Once the migrants are gone, the property values will rise. And guess who owns the land?’
The machete attacks are a symptom of a deeper rot. The state has outsourced its dirty work to vigilantes, and the vigilantes are getting paid. The bodies are piling up. And the suits in Pretoria are counting their cut.
More to come as this story unfolds.
