South African experts and rights groups have described the growing trend of blaming foreign nationals for the country’s strained social services as scapegoating, arguing that systemic government failures and a broken asylum system are central to ongoing struggles in healthcare and other sectors.

Political Rhetoric And Anti-Migrant Actions Highlight Concerns

Operation Dudula activists have continued blocking foreign nationals from public health clinics in Gauteng, with similar anti-migrant protests escalating nationwide, according to Amnesty International and media reports. Meanwhile, government officials, including former Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, have publicly linked high unemployment and service shortages to undocumented migrants, a stance critics say diverts attention from governance problems.

Jo Vearey, speaking to The Citizen, stated: “It is not true that immigrants are the cause of South Africa’s healthcare problem. The narrative that undocumented migrants are to blame for all failures of the state to deliver on what they should be delivering, whether it’s socioeconomic development or access to healthcare, is scapegoating.” Rights advocate Sharon Ekambaram told News24: “Foreign nationals are used as scapegoats for what is happening in our country. Foreign nationals are not responsible for the poverty faced by our people, the government is and our government is not being held accountable.”

Asylum System Failure And The Rise Of Xenophobia

South Africa’s asylum process is widely acknowledged to be dysfunctional, with Amnesty International reporting in 2019 that bureaucratic delays frequently leave applicants undocumented and vulnerable. Shenilla Mohamed of Amnesty International stated: “The current asylum management process system is failing everyone. In persisting with a broken system that leaves those trying to claim asylum undocumented and in limbo, the government is causing a divide and inflaming tensions between South African citizens and fellow Africans living in the country.”

Historical analysis published in 2024 by the journal Human Dynamics found that xenophobia in South Africa is intensified by longstanding government failures to deliver adequate services. Experts warn that stigmatising migrants neither addresses the root causes of poverty nor improves public services, instead fuelling division and making effective reform more difficult.

Nationwide anti-foreigner protests organised by groups such as ‘March and March’ are expected to intensify debates about the responsibilities of government versus the role of migration in social service delivery. Ongoing monitoring by human rights groups and local watchdogs is anticipated in the coming months.