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South Africa: Civil Unrest Emergency Plan of Action Final Report DREF n° MDRZA008

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A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the disaster

In early September 2019, protests and violent attacks against migrants occurred in the capital city, Pretoria, and other parts of South Africa, leading to injuries and loss of twelve lives. The violent attacks on foreign nationals and looting of their shops continued in other parts of the country with incidents reported in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Mpumalanga and Bloemfontein provinces on 1, 11 and the 12 September 2019. Due to these incidents, affected families had to seek shelter in evacuation centres. There has been a continuous increase in civil unrest attacks and anti-migrant sentiments in South Africa over the past decade (starting in 2008) predominantly targeting African foreign nationals in urban areas. The reason for this is found in the growing discontent of economic opportunities for South Africans in low income areas and an increase in the number of African foreign nationals especially from neighbouring countries with historic patterns migration into the low-skilled labour industries in the country. South Africa has been a destination since the end of the apartheid era for foreign migrants and refugees from East, Horn, Central and to a lesser extent, West Africa. These sending countries face natural disasters, food insecurities and political instability that contribute to the continuous flow of migrants.

The new wave of anti-migrant protest and civil unrest was spurred by social protests against primarily Nigerian, Somali, Ethiopian and Zimbabwean foreign nationals, which then escalated into widespread violence at foreign nationals’ hostels, businesses and homes. A few supermarkets were opened for a couple of hours per day and some schools were closed to ensure safety of people in affected areas as most people were not aware of the severity of the situation.

On the 1 September 2019, 150 households composed of foreign nationals were attacked in Richards Bay (KwaZuluNatal province) and the affected people were evacuated to community halls, in an area controlled and monitored by the South African Police.

Following the violence in KZN, Gauteng (GP) province, particularly Johannesburg, Germiston and Pretoria experienced increased violence directed at foreign nationals.