Des Erasmus
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli will this week hold talks with UN agencies and foreign diplomats ahead of a provincial summit on undocumented foreign nationals.
The meetings come ahead of the Provincial Summit on Undocumented Foreign Nationals, which KZN is expected to convene on 25 June.
The province said the summit will be “a strategic platform aimed at fostering constructive dialogue and developing coordinated responses to migration-related challenges affecting communities across the province”.
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The summit is scheduled for five days before a 30 June protest by anti-illegal-immigrant groups, including March and March. That date has been set as a “deadline” by the “activists” for undocumented foreigners to leave the country, or be expelled.
On Thursday, Ntuli is expected to meet representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and from the International Organisation for Migration, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), and the United Nations Children’s Fund.
The province said the meeting, requested by UNHCR, would focus on “opportunities for collaboration in promoting social cohesion, strengthening humanitarian coordination, protecting vulnerable populations, and supporting inclusive community development”.
KZN has been among areas countrywide where anti-illegal immigration activism, intimidation and threats have ramped up in 2026.
In May, hundreds of people joined a March and March demonstration in Pinetown against undocumented immigration, with other protests taking place sporadically in the province, particularly in and near city areas.
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KZN has seen deadly xenophobic violence in the past, with flare-ups starting with local grievances over jobs, crime, informal trade or labour disputes before escalating into intimidation, looting, displacement and attacks on foreign-owned businesses.
In 2015, attacks in the province killed six people and displaced more than 5,000 foreign nationals, including refugees and asylum seekers.
Violence flared again in Durban in 2019, when foreign nationals were attacked in eThekwini, with hundreds seeking shelter after homes, trucks and belongings were looted or destroyed. In 2020, there were renewed attacks in the CBD.
During a national address on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said government would strengthen immigration enforcement but warned that only the state may enforce the law.
He said government would act against groups exploiting concerns about illegal immigration “to further their own political, personal and criminal agendas”.
