The South African government announced Friday it has withdrawn a directive on asylum application processing that triggered violent clashes between foreign nationals and anti-immigrant groups.
Unrest erupted Thursday in Johannesburg’s Soweto township and the eastern port city of Durban, where at least 14 vehicles were torched in Durban and a municipal building was set alight. In Soweto, at least 10 vehicles were burned and small foreign-run convenience stores were looted. Police arrested three foreign nationals for allegedly assaulting a South African protester.
The now-rescinded order, which instructed refugee reception offices to process applications, followed a Constitutional Court ruling that certain procedural barriers for asylum seekers were unconstitutional. The directive prompted hundreds of people to flock to reception offices, reigniting long-standing tensions over irregular migration that have fueled weeks of protests and driven tens of thousands of African migrants to flee the country.
The Department of Home Affairs stated the order had led to “serious consequences,” with its offices “overwhelmed within a matter of days.” Officials faced threats, and “serious threats to public safety and order had emerged,” the department said, adding it would “embark on a fresh process.”
South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized economy, has long attracted migrants from across Africa. It has experienced periodic outbreaks of xenophobic violence for nearly two decades, often fueled by perceptions that foreign nationals compete for scarce jobs and resources. Complaints over irregular migration have intensified ahead of local government elections on November 4, against a backdrop of unemployment exceeding 30 percent.
At least four foreign nationals were killed in violence earlier this year, according to South African police, though some African governments report a higher toll. The largest exodus involved nationals from Zimbabwe and Malawi, while citizens of Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda also fled—some repatriated by their governments—raising diplomatic tensions with Pretoria.
