Five days from now, South Africa faces a moment of reckoning, not because the government has declared a crisis, but precisely because it insists it hasn't. The planned demonstrations of 30 June, anchored in the anti-immigration movement March and March's ultimatum for undocumented foreigners to leave the country, have triggered the most visible display of security mobilisation this republic has seen since the catastrophic July 2021 unrest.

The country, one of Africa's largest and most industrialised economies, has been on edge following weeks of sometimes violent xenophobic unrest that has left at least two people…

Protest leaders accuse the South African government of neglecting the immigration crisis while threatening citizens ahead of planned demonstrations. Tensions escalate as the…