A foreign national was beaten to death by a crowd of around 50 people in South Africa, amid months of tensions over immigration across the country.
The man, believed to be in his late 30s or early 40s, was killed in the coastal city of Durban on Thursday, when a group was demonstrating against illegal immigration in the city center, according to the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Police said two men broke away from a group and approached a man on the side of the road. “It is further alleged that the victim was then assaulted by a group of about 50 people and was declared dead at the scene,” SAPS said in a post on X.
The victim has not been identified, and his nationality has not been revealed. SAPS has stressed that the motive for the killing has not yet been established, warning people “not to spread unverified information.”
Like many countries in the West, immigration has become a contentious issue in South Africa, which attracts people from all over Africa, especially Zimbabwe and Malawi, as the continent’s biggest economy. But South Africa faces staggeringly high unemployment rates, overburdened public services and longstanding economic inequality, fuelling the growing anger over an influx of people looking for work.
Tensions there have repeatedly led to riots in recent years, with the violence sometimes turning deadly—at least four people were killed during anti-foreigner protests in Durban earlier this year—but things have escalated dramatically in recent months.
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Tens of thousands of migrants have left South Africa in one of the biggest mass exoduses in years, with many citing the threat of violence from angry locals, although the government has said that many have also been deported for being in the country illegally.
Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi and other countries have said some of their citizens have been killed in xenophobic attacks linked to the anti-immigration protests. South African authorities have disputed some of those claims and said some deaths were related to criminal activity and not the protests.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced violence related to immigration but has also acknowledged failures in the border control system over years that have allowed migrants to travel to and stay in South Africa without documentation. Newsweek has contacted SAPS, Ramaphosa’s office, and South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs via email for comment.
Below, Newsweek has examined what is behind South Africa’s growing anti-migrant anger.
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Unemployment and Poverty
South Africa’s official government figures from 2023 show there are around 3.1 million foreign nationals among the country’s population of 62 million, but protesters say there are many more without documentation who haven’t been counted.
The country had the second-highest unemployment rate in the world in 2024, when it was 32.6 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It climbed to 33.6 percent in the second quarter of 2026, reported by Statistics South Africa, meaning there are currently around 8.5 million people without work.
Some 66.7 percent of South Africans (40.8 million people) live below the country’s upper-bound poverty line, equivalent to approximately $142 per person per month, while 37.9 percent (23 million people) live below the lower-bound poverty line, equivalent to about $70 per person per month, according to official figures from 2023.
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Every day, streets in South Africa are lined with people sitting on the sidewalk with construction tools such as hammers and bricks, to indicate that they are looking for work, in the hopes that a driver will stop and give them a cash-in-hand job.
A January 2026 Afrobarometer report found that 69 percent of South Africans believed immigrants negatively affected the economy, while 83 percent wanted the government to reduce or entirely stop the entry of foreign job seekers.
“South Africa is currently on the verge of a collapse, the economy is crumbling,” Activist Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma said earlier this year. “There are no resources left for South Africans, and there’s certainly not enough resources for foreign nationals,” said the former radio journalist who became a leader of the anti-immigration group March and March.
Healthcare Under Pressure
Many protesters also cite worries about migrants putting pressure on healthcare resources, with some groups physically trying to prevent foreign nationals from accessing clinics.
South Africa’s healthcare system is struggling to provide the services the country needs, with more than 27,500 vacant healthcare posts across the country, including approximately 2,100 doctors and nearly 16,900 nurses, according to a 2026 parliamentary presentation.
Anti-migrant group Operation Dudula is one of several that have repeatedly tried to prevent foreign nationals from accessing medical care. South African outlet GroundUp published an investigation last November about this, featuring testimonies from people who allege they have been chased away from clinics, including many who rely on them for HIV anti-viral medication. Operation Dudula leaders deny many of the allegations in the piece.
South African courts have issued several orders prohibiting Operation Dudula members from checking patients' identification documents or obstructing access to healthcare facilities.
But reports of vigilantes from various groups turning foreign nationals away from clinics have continued.
Just last month, investigative outlet Viewfinder published footage showing a woman identifying herself as a March and March supporter demanding identification from someone entering Lancers Road Clinic in Durban.
South Africa’s government has spoken out against these types of actions multiple times, condemning them as unlawful. In June this year, Ramaphosa said in a statement that “foreign nationals account for a very small proportion of users of these public services.”
“The task of managing migration belongs to all of us,” he said. “That does not mean that communities should take the law into their own hands – only authorised officials of the state may enforce our immigration laws – but there is a role for all South Africans in upholding our laws and building social cohesion.”
Border Policy
South Africa’s government has long faced scrutiny for its border control. The country shares roughly 2,800 miles of land borders with six neighboring countries, often across sparsely populated remote mountains, rivers and farmland.
“Overtime, border security infrastructure has deteriorated significantly, with large sections of fencing damaged, vandalsed, or absent and critical access roads in poor condition,” South Africa's Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration said in a September report.
The country also lacks the resources to manage its borders properly. South Africa's Border Management Authority said in March that it had 2,600 people working for an operation that requires 11,200.
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Like many issues in South Africa, border control is also marred by corruption. South Africa's Special Investigating Unit revealed in February that officials have been selling permits and visas “to the highest bidder.”
“The investigation reveals that the country’s borders were not protected by law but auctioned off through corruption,” the unit said. “South Africa was being sold one permit at a time.”
“These findings show that corruption in the visa system is not incidental; it is organised, deliberate, and devastating to public trust,” it said. “Integrity is betrayed.”
Ramaphosa acknowledged all of this when he addressed the nation in June, launching a five-point strategy to tackle undocumented immigration called the Comprehensive Approach for Migration Management, which includes plans for stronger border security.
Immigration Has Become a Powerful Election Issue
Conversations about immigration and anti-immigrant rhetoric have taken center stage on the political stage in recent years, especially now, ahead of local government elections on November 4.
Multiple parties have included crackdowns on illegal immigration in their campaign promises, most notably the Patriotic Alliance, led by Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie.
While the issue is clearly a major concern for South Africans, its spotlighting in politics has attracted criticism from those accusing politicians of scapegoating the country’s issues.
Mike Ndlovu, spokesperson for Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX), a South African coalition of organizations, community activists, trade unions and migrant-rights groups that campaigns against xenophobia, has made this argument many times.
He said anti-migrant groups “are just building an electoral platform on xenophobia…positioning themselves as the defenders of poor communities against a manufactured migrant threat.”
“These upcoming elections have given them a stage to pivot from protest to political legitimacy,” told South African newspaper The Daily Maverick earlier this year.
Similarly, political professor Loren B. Landau said: “There has been a race to the bottom among all of the parties, where everyone is trying to show that they are strong, or stronger, on immigration. It is a convenient way to offer a false solution to South Africa’s very real problems without having to take responsibility.”
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly, Gray R. Thomas