Cars Burnt, Shops Looted as Fresh Wave of Anti-migrant Violence Erupts in South Africa

A fresh wave of anti-migrant violence has broken out in South Africa following a July court ruling which made way for asylum seekers to access applications, despite how they entered the country.

Police said at least 24 vehicles have been set ablaze and foreign-owned shops looted in unrest erupted in Soweto and Durban on Thursday.

The demonstration turned violent following allegations that a foreign national had assaulted one of the protesters in Durban.

Three foreign nationals were arrested in connection with the alleged assault, police said.

Protesters gathered outside a government refugee reception centre in Durban demanding that it stop accepting asylum applications.

Police fired rubber bullets to disperse crowds as businesses in the city centre shut their doors.

In Soweto, gunshots were also reported during confrontations between residents and foreign shopkeepers.

Last month, the department of home affairs issued a directive as an operational measure to implement the court ruling.

The directive led to long queues outside immigration centres as thousands of foreign nationals seek to access the asylum determination process.

On Wednesday, the inter-ministerial committee on migration (IMC) said the five refugee reception offices around the country had been overwhelmed following the directive.

Following the protests, the home affairs department on Friday said it would change the way it would comply with the court ruling as the implementation process had presented “unforeseen challenges”.

The department did not give details on how it would apply these changes but noted that it would still abide by the court ruling.

South Africa has experienced repeated outbreaks of xenophobic violence, often targeting migrants from African countries.

This year alone, Nigeria has repatriated around 2,000 citizens from the former apartheid country in flights facilitated by the federal government and private individuals.

States, including Nigeria and Ghana, have urged the African Union to tackle the wave of what it has termed “Afrophobia” in South Africa.