South Africa has mobilised thousands of police and army reservists to quell anti-migrant riots that have left at least six people dead and dozens of shops looted in Johannesburg and Pretoria. The violence, which erupted on Monday, has exposed deep-seated tensions over jobs, housing and public services in Africa’s most industrialised economy. For a working class already squeezed by stagnant wages and 33 per cent unemployment, migrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Nigeria have become a convenient scapegoat.
“They are taking our jobs and our houses,” said Themba Mokoena, a 42-year-old construction worker watching riot police clear a burning township market. “The government does nothing for us.” President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the attacks as “acts of criminality” and urged calm.
But critics say years of policy neglect have fuelled the resentment. The South African Federation of Trade Unions warned that without urgent action on inequality, the unrest could spread to other provinces. “This is not a migrant problem.
It is a failure of the state to provide for its own people,” said federation spokesman Andile Mngxitama. The deployment has so far stabilised the worst-hit areas, but community leaders fear a long, hot summer of unrest if economic conditions do not improve.
