South Africa's anti-migrant protesters march nationwide

Anti-immigrant protesters draped in flags and wielding wooden weapons marched across cities in South Africa on Tuesday to mark a deadline they had set for undocumented migrants to leave, with some marches hit by violence and looting.

Thousands of African foreign nationals had already fled South Africa ahead of Tuesday's 'deadline', and shops closed and foreign workers stayed home in anticipation of further trouble after months of unrest brought international condemnation.

At least four people have been killed and thousands of foreigners have been driven from their homes and seen their businesses and property vandalised.

The leader of the anti-migrant movement said they would hold weekly marches until their objectives are met.

"For the next six months, we are asking for our national resources to be used to take the illegal immigrants out of this country. From building to building -- they must go," Jacinta Ngobese, leader of the March and March group, said in the port city of Durban.

Among those chanting anti-migrant slogans at a demonstration in the city was Silindile Xaba, 31.

"People are not working, the jobs are being taken by illegal foreigners. It's not fair," she said.

Politicians have been accused of joining in the xenophobia to win votes at local elections due by November.

VIOLENCE AGAINST MIGRANTS

Migrants have interpreted the deadline as a physical threat, and there were scattered signs of violence, although many marches were peaceful. Police said they had arrested some looters, giving no further details.

In Thembisa, a northern suburb of the main commercial hub of Johannesburg, rioters threw stones at police and suspected migrants, while sporadic gunfire could be heard near the central business district.

National paper the Daily Maverick reported police deploying tactical vehicles and firing shots in Benoni, eastern Johannesburg, after being threatened by 500 protesters.

In the township of Soweto, protesters looted shacks of foreign nationals, national broadcaster SABC reported, adding that police had fired rubber bullets to disperse marches in Pietermaritzburg, near Durban.

In anti-migrant attacks, which have recurred sporadically in South Africa since 2008, little distinction is made between those who entered legally and those who did not.

March and March says it cannot be held responsible for spontaneous acts of anger by South Africans.

"Unfortunately, we can't be in every single community telling them ... how to behave," Ngobese told Reuters in an interview two weeks ago.

Landlords in Durban and Johannesburg had been illegally evicting foreign tenants ahead of the march for fear of their buildings being vandalised, witnesses said, and about 100 Congolese were sleeping on Durban's streets, according to a Reuters reporter, and their leader said they had been chased out.

The marches drew many thousands of mostly poor or unemployed South Africans who blame foreign nationals for their hardships.

Thousands of police were deployed and the military were on standby, a military spokesperson said.

The wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, and what critics say is a failure by police to protect victims, have tarnished South Africa's post-Nelson Mandela reputation as a defender of human rights and strained ties with other African nations.

Immigrants are blamed for taking jobs, driving crime and putting pressure on public services — claims that social scientists say lack evidence.

Three decades since apartheid ended, South Africa remains unequal and a third of people are out of work.

Despite this, it remains Africa’s largest economy and continues to draw migrants.

The immigrant population stands at about 3 million or about 4 per cent of the total, according to StatsSA — a relatively low share by global standards.

VIGILANTES ARRESTED, POLITICAL RHETORIC HARDENS

Deputy National Commissioner for Policing Tebello Mosikili said 103 criminal cases had been opened against anti-foreigner vigilantes since March.

Some politicians have echoed protesters' concerns even while condemning the violence.

"South Africans' ... deep concerns about illegal immigration ... are real and they deserve to be heard," President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement on Monday.

"But the right to protest ... does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence."

South African officials note that Western countries face similar tensions over immigration, often fuelled by divisive politics and misinformation.