# South Africa on edge as 'March and March' June 30 anti-migrant shutdown looms; 13,000 foreigners already gone
> Three foreign nationals killed in KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape, more than 13,000 deported or repatriated in a fortnight, and Pretoria insisting June 30 is an ordinary working day, all as an Durban-born movement founded by Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma threatens a national shutdown.

**Meta:** type: story · date: 2026-06-29 · heads: 生活如何改变, 他们没说的 · 5 takes · 4 lenses · 4 regions

## Summary

The movement March and March, led by Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, a former Durban radio presenter, had set June 30, 2026 as the deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa or face a "national shutdown." Three people died, a Malawian man killed by a mob in Pietermaritzburg and two Mozambican nationals in the Western Cape, during anti-immigration protests in the fortnight before the deadline. More than 13,000 foreign nationals left or were deported in the same period, including around 9,000 Malawians, some waiting through South African winter nights in an open field in Durban before repatriation buses arrived. Deportations nationwide rose 46 percent year-on-year to 109,344 as of March 2026. President [Cyril Ramaphosa](/zh/entity/person/cyril-ramaphosa) said June 30 is not an official deadline and that [South Africa](/zh/entity/south-africa) "will not tolerate xenophobia," while deploying police nationwide under a R640 million special operation. Mozambique, Ghana, Nigeria, and Malawi each organised state-sponsored repatriation flights or convoys.

## The split

South African media and human rights groups stress the constitutional illegality of vigilante enforcement and criticise Ramaphosa for tacitly validating anti-migrant sentiment by ramping up deportations. Regional African governments, including Malawi and Mozambique, frame the crisis as a failure of bilateral diplomacy and a test of the African Union's free-movement agenda. March and March's leadership insists the movement is not xenophobic but a response to crime and unemployment: critics say the distinction collapses when foreign-owned businesses are set alight and a Malawian man is chased and beaten to death.

## By the numbers
- 3, foreign nationals killed in protests since mid-June (1 Malawian, 2 Mozambican)
- 13,000+, foreign nationals repatriated or deported in the preceding fortnight
- 109,344, total deportations as of March 31, 2026, up 46 percent year-on-year
- 3,000+, Malawians sheltering in Durban open field awaiting repatriation flights
- R640 million, cost of SAPS' special security operation for June 30

## Why it matters

South Africa hosts an estimated 2-4 million undocumented migrants. A violent June 30 would shake investor confidence and put Ramaphosa's government under pressure both domestically and from neighbouring states whose citizens are the primary targets. The episode also tests whether the AU's free-movement protocol has any political weight when a member state's public turns against migrants.

## What to watch
- Whether June 30 protests turn violent or remain contained by the police deployment.
- The ANC government's bilateral response to Malawi and Mozambique after their citizens were killed.
- Whether March and March escalates or declares a pause after June 30 passes.
- Long-term: whether the deportation surge continues or reverses once the political heat subsides.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### US network; June 29 feature filed from KwaZulu-Natal documenting the scale of departures and individual testimonies
- **CNN** (United States, en) — Reported from KwaZulu-Natal on the weeks of anti-immigrant violence preceding the June 30 deadline set by March and March. Documented that three foreign nationals, a Malawian man and two Mozambicans, were killed during protests in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, and that more than 3,000 Malawians had sheltered in an open field in Durban awaiting repatriation flights, some through sub-zero winter nights.
  > "'Leave or return in a coffin': the threat driving migrants out of South Africa."
  Source: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/29/africa/south-africa-anti-migrant-deadline-intl

### French public broadcaster; reported on scale of voluntary departures and government deportation statistics
- **France 24** (France, en) — Confirmed that more than 13,000 foreign nationals, roughly 9,000 Malawians, 3,000 Zimbabweans, 900 Ghanaians and 300 Nigerians, had been repatriated or deported in the preceding fortnight. Government's acting police minister Firoz Cachalia said a special R640 million security operation was in place and that police would not tolerate violence or lawlessness on June 30.
  > "Thousands of foreign nationals leave South Africa ahead of the June 30 'deadline'."
  Source: https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20260629-thousands-foreign-nationals-leave-south-africa-ahead-june-30-deadline

### international broadcaster; June 29 field report from Malawian families sheltering in South Africa
- **Al Jazeera** (Global, en) — Profiled Malawian families who said they had nowhere to go, quoting one woman who said 'if I am to die, let it be here.' Reported that Malawi's government organised repatriation buses but many families refused to board, fearing loss of their South African livelihoods. Noted that attacks spread from informal settlements to foreign-owned businesses in Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town suburbs.
  > "'If I am to die, let it be here': Malawians caught between xenophobic violence and economic desperation."
  Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/29/if-i-am-to-die-let-it-be-here-malawians-fleeing-unrest-in-south-africa

### unlabelled
- **Institute for Security Studies (ISS Africa)** (South Africa, en) — 
  Source: https://issafrica.org/iss-today/sa-police-and-protesters-must-put-lives-first-as-30-june-looms
- **News24** (South Africa, en) — 
  Source: https://www.news24.com/southafrica/news/live-anti-immigration-sentiment-xenophobic-violence-fears-ramp-up-as-march-and-marchs-30-june-deadline-looms-20260624-0499

## Across the graph
- Related: [[south-africa-xenophobia-june-deadline]], [[south-africa-malawians-durban-jun25]], [[south-africa-anti-migrant-crisis-2026]]
- Entities: South Africa, Person:cyril Ramaphosa, Malawi, Operation Dudula

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Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/zh/n/south-africa-june30-shutdown-eve-jun29