Ugly scenes are playing out in South Africa, where a huge movement is hunting illegal immigrants and giving them a deadline to leave “or they will hunt them down and kill them”.
The nation hosts up to 10 million foreign nationals with millions of them undocumented, now hundreds of thousands are fleeing after weeks of anti-foreigner violence.
It has culminated in chaotic protests across the country, forcing families to abandon their homes, businesses and possessions amid fears they would be killed.
The unrest follows an unofficial June 30 deadline issued by anti-immigration groups demanding undocumented migrants leave the country, with tensions boiling over in several cities including Durban, Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg.
While many of the demonstrations remained peaceful under heavy police presence, others descended into looting, assaults and clashes with security forces.
More than 900 people have since been arrested.
South African police have confirmed at least one Malawian, two Mozambicans and one Ethiopian were killed during the recent unrest, though migrants claim the true toll is higher.
Local authorities say more than 15,000 Malawians have now left South Africa, while thousands more citizens from Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Ghana have also returned home in what appears to be the first co-ordinated multinational evacuation.
The most disturbing scenes have emerged from sprawling makeshift camps in Durban, where thousands of migrants have slept on cardboard and blankets beside piles of luggage while waiting days for buses home.
Women carrying babies huddled together as aid workers handed out food and clothing, while others described collapsing from hunger and exhaustion as they waited for transport.
Many of those fleeing insist they were living and working legally.
Among those caught in the chaos is 33-year-old Malawian Ahamadi Assani, who said vigilantes stormed his compound in Pietermaritzburg, smashing doors and attacking residents as they hid inside.
“We were hiding inside our homes because we feared for our lives,” he told AFP.
Assani escaped with only a handful of bags before returning to his rural village in Malawi.
“It was one of the most painful and traumatic experiences I have ever witnessed,” he said.
“We came back with nothing.”
Zimbabwean carpenter Takesure Nyawo said a group of men armed with knives arrived at his home demanding he leave before looting his belongings.
“They started to take my property. They took the fridge, they took the TV, then they went to my tools,” he told AFP.
“When they wanted to come back for the bed, I locked the door because they were holding big knives.
“I was afraid of my life and for my kids.”
Nyawo, who said he had lived in South Africa for nine years with a valid permit, argued migrants had become easy targets.
“It’s not the police that are coming to check the documents. It’s the locals and some of them can’t even read,” he said.
South Africa has experienced periodic outbreaks of race-based violence for decades, with deadly riots in 2008, further attacks in 2015 and 2019, and renewed tensions in recent years as the country’s economic problems deepened.
High unemployment, rising living costs and frustration over crime have fuelled claims by some activists that migrants are taking jobs and placing pressure on public services, despite research suggesting migrants make up only about four per cent of the population and contribute to economic activity.
The latest unrest comes just months before local elections, with analysts warning migrants are again being scapegoated for broader economic and political frustrations.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged concerns about illegal immigration but condemned violence and vigilantism, while police have opened more than 100 investigations into anti-foreigner attacks.
For many who have already left, however, the damage has been done.
“I would rather die here in poverty than going back to South Africa,” Assani said.
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