Several cars were set on fire and foreign businesses were forced to close their doors in Soweto, Johannesburg, and the coastal city of Durban.
Published on October 8, 2026
Anti-migrant protests in two South African cities have turned violent, with the government accusing asylum seekers of misinformation about a court ruling.
Violence broke out in Johannesburg’s Soweto township and the east coast port city of Durban on Thursday, with two dozen cars set on fire and foreign businesses forced to close, police said.
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The unrest followed protests demanding that refugee centers stop processing asylum applications.
Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane said on Thursday that 10 vehicles were set on fire in Johannesburg and 14 in Durban, where three people were arrested.
In Soweto, a Reuters reporter saw residents carrying groceries out of a store they said belonged to a Somali man, whom they chased away. These residents fled after the arrival of the police.
In Durban, a Reuters journalist saw cars set on fire in the urban center, where foreign stores were also looted. AFP journalists present in the city reported that police opened fire with rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators who allegedly set fire to a business run by foreigners.
The protesters are opposing a July Constitutional Court ruling that removes procedural obstacles to seeking asylum, including for people who entered South Africa irregularly, lacked an asylum transit visa or failed to meet presentation deadlines.
On Thursday, the government’s Interministerial Committee on Migration held an urgent briefing to address overcrowding in asylum offices following the implementation of the decision. The day before, the committee said all its offices were overwhelmed by the number of incoming applications.
Government spokesman William Baloyi said “the violence was triggered by people deliberately spreading false information about the Constitutional Court’s decision.”
Baloyi said the court’s decision was widely misrepresented and did not automatically grant refugee status, permanent residency or other legal rights to undocumented migrants.
“We are deeply concerned about what is happening now,” he added.
Months of protests by populist anti-immigration groups against undocumented foreign nationals, demanding they leave South Africa, have led tens of thousands to flee, some repatriated by their governments.
Three decades after the end of apartheid, South Africa remains deeply unequal and around a third of the population is unemployed. Migrants are often accused of taking jobs, fueling crime and straining public services, even though these claims are not supported by evidence.
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