Foreign nationals, who are camped outside the Department of Home Affairs offices in Durban, used their mobile phones last night to watch President Cyril Ramaphosa's address on the immigration issue. The group who have been outside the premises for the past few weeks, claims violence and threats led them to flee their homes in the CBD.
As anti-immigrant tensions have been reported across the country and resulted in at least two reported deaths of foreign nationals, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday night announced that the government will be taking action to tackle the issue of illegal immigrants.
Some of the key actions announced by the president include enforcement of immigration, labour and other laws. There have been a wave of anti-immigrant protests across the country including in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape.
Reports of violence have been reported in some areas including in Mossel Bay where the deaths of two Mozambican nationals were confirmed by police last week. The men had been murdered amid protests in an informal settlement.
One of the groups at the forefront of the protests is March and March. The group has called on undocumented migrants to leave the country by June 30, despite government appeals for calm. Some foreign nationals have already left South Africa because of growing fears of violence and a planned shutdown at the end of June.
