Protests Against Migrants in South Africa: Economic Consequences and Labor Market Risks

Recent demonstrations in South Africa reflect deep public dissatisfaction related to unemployment and the quality of public services, contradicting the notion of the country being violent. The article analyzes the underlying economic difficulties and emphasizes the urgent need for action.

Causes of Protests and the Economic Situation

Over the past week, South Africa has drawn the attention of the global and local community due to marches held on Tuesday. While some portray the country as aggressive towards foreigners, this is not accurate. It is crucial to consider the deep frustrations and anger of the population. Society is exhausted by an economy that grows barely fast enough to keep pace with population growth, let alone absorb hundreds of thousands of young people entering the labor market annually. The country faces one of the highest unemployment rates in the world—43.7%, leading to entrenched poverty and inequality.

Despite numerous challenges, South Africa remains an economic hub for the Southern African region and a significant part of the continent. It cannot remain a relatively isolated oasis of prosperity amidst an ocean of poverty. The marches took place, and were mostly peaceful, for which credit should be given to the police officers. However, the sincere demands of the demonstrators and society, especially the working class, cannot be ignored; these issues require urgent resolution.

Employment Crisis and Economic Development

The first problem is the unemployment crisis. No society can be proud or feel secure if four out of ten citizens cannot find work, especially decent and permanent employment. Over 62% of youth are at risk of unemployment. Solving the unemployment problem must become a top priority for the government, businesses, trade unions, and society as a whole. Once people get jobs, many acute socio-economic crises will begin to subside.

To create jobs, the economy needs to be pulled out of its sluggish state, which has lasted over ten years, and raised to the required 3% growth. This implies assisting Eskom and municipalities in ensuring electricity accessibility for working-class families, businesses, and industry. Accelerating investment in rail transport, ports, roads, water supply, airports, and other vital economic infrastructure is also necessary.

Furthermore, the process of starting a business must be simplified, and financing must be accessible and acceptable for SMEs, especially in rural areas and settlements. The private sector must actively participate in job creation, including discussing alternatives to staff reductions with workers and unions. Employers are obliged to pay workers a living wage. This is critical for ensuring worker health and productivity, as well as their sense of value and motivation. For economic growth, it is also vital that workers receive a decent salary and become shareholders, allowing them to purchase goods needed by businesses.

Social Services and Migration

Employers should prioritize hiring young South Africans. It has often been observed that employers exploit the desperation of undocumented labor, violating their labor rights and immigration laws. If this is not addressed, it will become a trigger for future conflicts. Part of the demonstrators' anger is linked to the state of public and municipal services. When communities face deteriorating water supply and sanitation infrastructure, such as sewage leaks on roads in settlements, why should they be surprised by protests? When workers spend days queuing at the Department of Interior or hospitals for the most basic services, why should they be suppressed?

While acknowledging everything that causes anger, it is also necessary to note the progress made by society since 1994 under successive African National Congress administrations. These administrations implemented public services for the working class to reduce poverty and inequality, and in recent years, they have managed to overcome power outages that damaged the economy, restore other state-owned enterprises, and begin dismantling networks of state resource theft. It is necessary to honestly acknowledge the unacceptable level of crime and define steps to eliminate it.

As with other aspects of the state, competent leadership of law enforcement agencies must be ensured, vacancies on the front lines must be filled, critical skills must be attracted, and personnel and institutions must be provided with the necessary resources to win this fight. Protests occurred because society is losing faith in the state's ability to ensure the rule of law, which is an extremely dangerous situation for any society.

Policy and Migration Issues

Any form of xenophobia, racism, or discrimination must be categorically rejected, as the country knows the meaning of these phenomena after experiencing apartheid. We are not like that, and we should never be. At the same time, it must be demanded that every resident of South Africa, citizen or not, complies with all laws. Migration must be managed, not a chaotic process. South Africa cannot bear the burden of providing employment for an entire region or continent; primarily, we owe our loyalty to South African citizens.

Migration is part of history, including the country's history, as the mining industry was built by generations of workers from Cofimvaba to Cabo Delgado. There is a historical obligation to help develop the region that the country owes so much to. The region and the continent must prosper. This requires other African governments to take responsibility to their citizens by addressing the reasons why they are forced to leave their homes due to mass human rights violations, climate change, or a complete lack of jobs and economic opportunities.

The government must strengthen border security and provide the Department of Interior, Border Control Agency, as well as SAPS and SANDF with the necessary resources to constantly ensure the rule of law. Despite numerous problems, they must be solved. Migration is an integral part of human nature and must be managed in a humane and sustainable way. These marches have been an alarming signal that cannot be ignored.

In connection with the illegal immigration crisis in South Africa, which involves the relocation of repatriated foreign nationals to the Old Drive-In site in Durban under heavy guard, the article's author argues that employers who exploited these unregistered migrants bear significant responsibility for the situation.

Social inequality and the lives of the poor

The discussion about illegal immigration initially revealed deep class divisions. A large part of the activism appears to be a struggle between the lower classes and those who criticize them from a position of comfort. Although many middle-class commentators condemn anti-immigration movements, they often ignore the reasons why many poor residents of South Africa feel more indignation about this issue.

For many low-income communities, the consequences of illegal immigration are not an abstract political discussion but an integral part of daily life. Years of poverty have already created complex conditions for them: children are forced to compete for limited spots in overcrowded public schools, and people queue before dawn at clinics and public hospitals hoping to receive medical care due to facility overload and lack of resources.

Living conditions and infrastructure

Many unregistered migrants settle in informal settlements where rent is lower. In some cases, temporary structures are illegally built on floodplains or abandoned private land, increasing safety risks and further straining the already fragile infrastructure. Illegal connections to the power grid lead to network overload, forcing municipalities to impose load restrictions to prevent transformer explosions. Poor sanitary conditions and insufficient hygiene facilities create serious public health threats that residents face daily.

It is easier to dismiss these frustrations when living in a suburb isolated from such realities and discussing migration over coffee and croissants at a local cafe. However, one must ask who has benefited most from illegal immigration.

Exploitation of cheap labor

For decades, many households, both Black and middle-class white, relied on unregistered migrants as cheap labor. Domestic workers, gardeners, and factory workers often received pay significantly below the legally established minimum wage. Some earned only around 1,500 rand per month, sending part of their earnings home through money transfer services like Mpesa. Their unregistered status made them vulnerable, preventing them from demanding better working conditions or higher wages for fear of deportation.

The irony became particularly evident when citizens from Malawi were discovered in Sherwood. Many self-proclaimed defenders of justice criticized activists opposing illegal immigration, yet they overlooked the unpleasant truth that many of these migrants worked in homes and businesses as low-paid laborers.

Consequences of abandoning workers

When authorities began moving unregistered migrants to the Durban Drive-In site to facilitate repatriation, the police warned that hiring or sheltering undocumented foreigners is illegal and can result in fines of up to 10,000 rand. Nevertheless, some employers refused to release workers because they continued to depend on their labor.

Perhaps the clearest example of this contradiction was the incident after the June 30th protest marches, when some employers, according to reports, drove to the now-disbanded Durban Drive-In repatriation center and left their domestic workers there in the middle of winter. After years of benefiting from their labor, they simply discarded them and left.

A call for accountability

These same employers easily condemn government failures while ignoring their own role in undermining labor legislation. Exploiting unregistered workers, underpaying domestic staff, and creating an illegal labor market are not harmless acts. They are offenses that perpetuate exploitation and depress wages for everyone.

Giving out blankets and soup bowls after years of using illegal hiring is not charity. It is a show of sympathy that does little to eliminate the exploitation that necessitated such gestures in the first place.

Debates on migration in South Africa will remain incomplete as long as the focus is solely on undocumented migrants or on government failures. Those who knowingly hire unregistered workers, ignore labor laws, and profit from exploitation must also be held accountable. They are not bystanders in this crisis; they are active participants.

If the country is serious about solving the illegal immigration problem, accountability must extend beyond borders. It must include employers who support the underground labor market while blaming others for the existence of this problem. Until this happens, the discussion will continue to overlook one of the most significant factors of the problem—the middle class.