{"id":7445,"date":"2026-06-23T16:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/south-african-police-investigate-murder-amid-rise-in-anti-migrant-attacks\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:36:10","slug":"south-african-police-investigate-murder-amid-rise-in-anti-migrant-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/south-african-police-investigate-murder-amid-rise-in-anti-migrant-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"South African police investigate murder amid rise in anti-migrant attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Anti-migrant protest groups have demanded that undocumented foreigners leave the country by June 30.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Police in South Africa are investigating the murder of a foreign national in the city of Pietermaritzburg, near Durban, where hundreds of Malawians rushed to be repatriated due to fears of anti-migrant attacks.<\/p>\n<p>A 29-year-old Malawian national was attacked and died after a protest in Pietermaritzburg on Friday, a local councillor told AFP on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/18\/south-africa-coach-tells-critics-to-shut-up-before-second-world-cup-match\">South Africa coach tells critics to \u2018shut up\u2019 after poor start to World Cup<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/18\/who-benefits-from-zimbabwes-lithium-boom\">Who benefits from Zimbabwe\u2019s lithium boom?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2026\/6\/21\/south-africas-immigration-crackdown-divides-johannesburgs-inner-city\">South Africa\u2019s immigration crackdown divides Johannesburg\u2019s inner city<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/22\/south-african-police-tighten-security-as-anti-migrant-deadline-approaches\">South African police tighten security as anti-migrant deadline approaches<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/where\/south-africa\/\">South Africa<\/a> is tightening security across the country ahead of a June 30 deadline set by anti-migrant protest groups for undocumented foreigners to leave.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa has been plagued by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/22\/south-african-police-tighten-security-as-anti-migrant-deadline-approaches\">weeks of xenophobic attacks<\/a> that have left at least two people dead and seen many African countries sending aircraft to repatriate thousands of their nationals fleeing the violence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis family identified him; he is a Malawian national,\u201d Councillor Suraya Reddy said on Tuesday about the death in Pietermaritzburg. Police said they could not confirm the man\u2019s nationality until \u201cauthorities from his own country\u201d had been informed.<\/p>\n<p>The Malawian government said it was investigating reports that one of its nationals had been killed. Police said a mob attacked a man who escaped to an informal settlement but then \u201cslipped into the river\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was found on the riverbend with a cut on the head and injuries on the mouth,\u201d a police statement said, reporting that a murder case had been opened and the circumstances were under investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of Malawians have been gathering at a centre in Pietermaritzburg, in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, since Friday, seeking repatriation. The latest tensions come as parties campaign ahead of local government elections scheduled for November 4. During voter registration at the weekend, gunmen shot dead four people linked with political parties.<\/p>\n<p>The small but organised protest groups have issued an ultimatum for undocumented migrants from countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi and Mozambique to exit the country or face consequences, a demand with no legal basis.<\/p>\n<p>This is far from the first time there has been violent unrest against foreigners and foreign-owned businesses in South Africa. More than 60 people were killed in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2008\/5\/24\/south-africa-violence-spreads\">anti-migrant riots in 2008<\/a>, with more violence in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2016\/4\/6\/what-caused-the-xenophobic-attacks-in-south-africa\">2015 and 2016<\/a>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/9\/4\/south-africa-migrant-attacks-why-cant-we-live-with-peace\">In 2019<\/a>, armed mobs attacked foreign-owned businesses around Johannesburg, leaving at least 12 people dead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anti-migrant protest groups have demanded that undocumented foreigners leave the country by June 30. Police in South Africa are investigating the murder of a foreign national in the city of Pietermaritzburg, near Durban, where hundreds of Malawians rushed to be repatriated due to fears of anti-migrant attacks. A 29-year-old Malawian national was attacked and died &#8230; <a title=\"South African police investigate murder amid rise in anti-migrant attacks\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/south-african-police-investigate-murder-amid-rise-in-anti-migrant-attacks\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about South African police investigate murder amid rise in anti-migrant attacks\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}