Vigilantes against migrants are feared in South Africa

• Elles van Gelder

  Africa correspondent

A Mozambican with a small market stall in the township of Soweto is afraid of the South Africans in yellow vests. They walk through his neighborhood, ask for his residence permit and take chips and popcorn from his stall without paying. “I can only keep my mouth shut, resisting is too dangerous.”

The citizens in the yellow vests are part of ‘Operation Dudula’. Dudula means pushing back: pushing back migrants. In various places in South Africa, citizens have united under that name and patrol the streets of their neighborhood.

“We want to ensure safety in our neighborhood,” says 34-year-old unemployed mother Tshidi, who is leading the way. “We are tired of grandmothers in our neighborhood being robbed.” It is a group of about ten people who walk through the streets on this day.

Watch how ‘Operation Dudula’ works in the video below:

Vigilantes search for illegal migrants ahead of South African elections

They stop people, search them and ask for residence permits. They present themselves as concerned citizens who are anti-crime, but mainly visit the small shops in the townships, with owners from Mozambique, Ethiopia and Malawi, among others. Dudula started in Soweto but now operates in different parts of the country.

The movement’s members have the same view: they blame migrants for taking away jobs and homes and for crime. In addition to being a movement, it has been a political party for a year now, which wants to participate in the elections at the end of May because “the government does not take illegal migration seriously”.

But they were recently excluded by the electoral commission, not because of their message, but because they did not submit their list of candidates on time. Their supporters continue to spout the rhetoric.

Xenophobia always lurks on the surface, especially in the poorer neighborhoods of the country, and with Dudula those who are dissatisfied have a way to unite. But other groups and politicians have also targeted migrants in the run-up to the elections.

Former president Jacob Zuma, who is running again with his MK party, released a TikTok video in which he says there was no crime in South Africa before foreigners came. And another party, The Patriotic Alliance, stood at the border with Zimbabwe at the beginning of this year and proudly said that they were pushing back migrants.

Figures show that migrants actually commit crimes less often than South Africans. And that they make a positive contribution to the economy,

“Politicians and citizens are looking for a scapegoat for South Africa’s biggest problems: poverty, unemployment and inequality,” says Anthony Kaziboni of the University of Johannesburg, who researches xenophobia. “Figures show that migrants actually commit crimes less often than South Africans,” he says. “And that they make a positive contribution to the economy, but politicians think they can score points this way, we see that all over the world.”

It is unclear how many members Dudula has, but in the past all it took was a small flame somewhere and it exploded into xenophobic violence. The anti-foreigner rhetoric is dangerous, says Kaziboni, especially in South Africa.

“We have seen on several occasions that hate speech has led to waves of attacks on foreigners, resulting in many deaths. It is important for politicians and people in authority to pay close attention to what they say and how citizens take it.”

Current President Ramaphosa has said Dudula’s actions are illegal. He fears that these types of unlawful actions could spiral out of control and become violent.

The civilians in Soweto patrol unperturbed. They sometimes even say they call the police if they stop someone.

Operation Dudula is also accused of violence. “We don’t participate in that,” says Tshidi as she stands in front of the shop of a man from Somalia. “Unless a migrant gets angry and we have to defend ourselves.”

The members say that the former leader of Dudula, who received a suspended prison sentence for trashing a house during an action, promoted violence, but that they are now a different club.

“But even asking for someone’s papers is intimidation and is not allowed,” says researcher Kaziboni. The Mozambican stable owner doesn’t understand it either: “Why do they say that I threaten the neighborhood? I contribute to it, right? Everyone likes to buy my food. I’m good for my neighborhood, right?”