The Institute for Economic Justice has warned that rising anti-migrant violence threatens South Africa's constitutional democracy and social stability. The organisation says unemployment and failing public services, rather than migration, are driving public frustration and has urged government to combine law enforcement with economic reforms to address the crisis.

The solution is real socio-economic change in the country, and the labour movement is best positioned to push for it.

Vigilante groups and right-wing populist forces are stoking anti-immigrant sentiment and demanding that they leave the country by June 30. Experts fear serious economic…