Anti-migrant activist's death sparks special police probe in South Africa

Andile Mvuyelwa Somgxada was shot outside his home east of Johannesburg earlier this month and died several days later in hospital. Now a special police team is investigating his killing, and the people closest to the movement he led are watching closely, and nervously.

Somgxada was a provincial leader of March and March, the anti-migrant group that has been organizing demonstrations across South Africa and setting an unofficial deadline of 30 June for undocumented migrants to leave the country. Sandile Dube, a spokesperson for the organization, told the BBC that members believe Somgxada was targeted in retaliation for that campaign. Dube described the killing as an “orchestrated hitman type of killing” and said other leaders within the movement have recently received warnings and death threats.

The fear inside the organization is palpable. Other leaders are now living with threats against them, even as March and March continues to plan weekly marches until its demands are met.

Acting police chief Lt Gen Puleng Dimpane announced the formation of a multidisciplinary team to investigate the shooting. “We are committed to conducting a thorough investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding this murder and to ensure accountability,” Dimpane said in a statement on Tuesday evening. The announcement reflects how seriously authorities are treating the case amid broader concerns about violence tied to anti-migrant sentiment.

Meanwhile, the consequences of that sentiment are landing on real people elsewhere in the country. On Tuesday, five people were arrested in Limpopo province for allegedly impersonating immigration officers and unlawfully demanding that foreign nationals leave. Among those targeted was a Nigerian national who was legally in South Africa and was intimidated into closing his business. Dimpane issued a direct warning in response: “The law applies equally to everyone,” and “no individual or group has the authority to conduct immigration inspections, verify legal status, or remove people from communities.”

When asked about such incidents, Dube said March and March rejected “any form of violence” and “any form of anti-law” conduct. The gap between that stated position and what is happening on the ground, however, remains wide.

South Africa is contending with a migration crisis that has been building for years, periodically erupting into violence, looting, and intimidation. The current wave of demonstrations is the latest and most organized expression of that tension. Protesters argue that foreign nationals place pressure on public services and are involved in crime. The government, for its part, has reported that more than 53,000 foreign nationals have been deported or repatriated since launching a “migration management” campaign five weeks ago. Official figures put the number of documented foreign nationals in South Africa at more than three million, a count that excludes those in the country without papers.

Several countries have been organizing their own exits. Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda have arranged flights or buses for citizens wishing to return home. On Wednesday, the last flight organized by the Nigerian government under its voluntary repatriation scheme landed in Lagos carrying 306 passengers, bringing the total number of Nigerians who have returned under the programme to more than 1,200.

Whether the investigation into Somgxada’s killing will ease or deepen the tensions driving all of this remains an open question, and one that communities across South Africa are waiting to see answered. For more detailed reporting on this developing story, see https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2d2qlgj71o.