The mayor of eThekwini, Cyril Xaba, on Thursday, ordered the transfer of Nigerians and other African nationals in Durban, South Africa, to a screening centre for legal status.
Xaba organised buses to convey foreign nationals from Diakonia Centre in the Durban CBD to a designated refugee reception centre for formal processing of their documents.
In a viral video, the African foreigners were marched into buses by South African law enforcement, sparking reactions online.
The incident was part of the anti-foreigner campaigns, which began early this year as South Africans vehemently resisted the stay of African foreigners in their country.
Confirming the incident, the President of the Nigerian Union South Africa, Mr Smart Nwobi, said the mayor moved to separate the foreigners because of the pressure from the hosts.
He, however, said the municipal authorities had managed to prevent the situation from escalating into chaos.
Two legal migrants
South African media said the processing of Nigerians and other African nationals in Durban was arranged after it was detected that only two migrants were legally documented out of hundreds in KwaZulu-Natal.
eNCA News reported on Friday that the Department of Home Affairs in KZN processed 457 migrants, of which only two were found to be in the country legally.
Some quarters said the revelation led to the decision of the Durban authorities to embark on the same processing of foreigners who moved to a shelter after seeking protection from anti-migrant groups.
Killing of activist
However, there are speculations that the death of crime activist, Thato Molosankwe, in his residence in Lomanyaneng village, in Mahikeng, on Wednesday morning, re-engineered the demonstrations by South Africans to drive foreigners away.
Molosankwe, also a traditional healer, was shot dead after he was attacked at his home, compelling the police to find his killers.
The acting National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, Lt-Gen Puleng Dimpane, directed the North West Acting Provincial Commissioner, Major-Gen Ryno Naidoo, to ensure maximum resources were deployed to hunt down Molosankwe’s killers.
Reports said he sustained multiple gunshot wounds, as the police also launched an investigation into the murder.
Unchanged deadline
Meanwhile, Nigerians confirmed to Diaspora Tales that the deadline for foreign Africans in KZN to leave South Africa on June 30, 2026, had not changed.
Those who spoke said that the tension had not subsided in some parts of South Africa as the hosts insisted foreign nationals were thriving at their expense.
“The situation is very true. Nigerians and other African nationals are still here. The South Africans want everyone to leave except White and Asian foreigners,” a Nigerian lawyer, Okeke, said.
The source added that the police in the municipality were monitoring the incident to ensure the safety of Nigerians and other African nationals.