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A wave of anti-illegal immigration demonstrations has gripped South Africa this week, with hundreds of protesters marching through the streets of Johannesburg on Wednesday to demand stricter border controls and mass deportations of undocumented migrants. The Johannesburg rally follows a similar protest held just one day earlier in the nation’s capital, Pretoria, marking a growing public mobilization around the hot-button issue of unauthorized migration.

As Africa’s most industrialized economy with a wide range of economic opportunities, South Africa has long drawn migrants from across the continent and beyond, with both documented and undocumented people arriving in search of better work and living prospects. Current estimates of the country’s undocumented migrant population vary wildly, with commonly cited figures falling between 3 million and 5 million. No accurate, up-to-date official count exists because most migrants without legal status avoid government documentation processes.

Wednesday’s demonstration was led by the anti-immigration group March and March, and drew participation from other prominent anti-migration organizations including Operation Dudula, as well as two registered political parties: ActionSA and the Patriotic Alliance. In comments during the march, ActionSA representative Themba Mabunda pushed back against accusations of xenophobia, framing the protest as a demand for equitable policy rather than anti-foreign sentiment. “We are not xenophobic, we just want the right thing to done in South Africa, to put the South African first,” Mabunda said. “We do want to live with foreigners in our country, but those foreigners must be legally in the country.”

The protest disrupted daily life across Johannesburg, forcing dozens of businesses—owned by both South African locals and migrant entrepreneurs—to close their doors out of fear of potential looting, violence, or opportunistic criminal activity.

Anti-immigration groups anchor their demands on South Africa’s ongoing socioeconomic crisis: the nation’s official unemployment rate currently sits above 30%, leaving millions of local people out of work. Proponents of stricter enforcement argue that undocumented migration contributes to urban overcrowding, unfair competition in the labor market, lost tax revenue, rising crime, and weakened border security. In some high-tension cases, anti-migration activists have even forcibly turned foreign nationals away from public health clinics, claiming undocumented visitors worsen drug shortages and overcrowding in already under-resourced facilities.

Tensions around the issue have already spilled over into violence in recent weeks. Last month, an anti-migration march in Eastern Cape Province ended with protesters setting fire to minibus taxis and destroying public infrastructure. In KwaZulu-Natal, reported targeted attacks on Ghanaian migrants sparked a full diplomatic incident, which led to Ghana’s government summoning South Africa’s ambassador to Accra to formally address the violence.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has recently raised alarm over the growing unrest, issuing a public statement expressing concern over xenophobic attacks, harassment, and intimidation targeting migrants and foreign nationals across multiple South African provinces including KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.

In response to rising political and public pressure, South African authorities have ramped up deportation efforts in recent years. Government data shows that between the 2021 and 2023 financial years, South Africa deported more than 109,000 undocumented migrants living in the country.

A Johannesburg court has handed down a ruling ordering the immediate deportation of Bellarmine Mugabe, the 28-year-old youngest son of Zimbabwe’s late former long-ruling president Robert Mugabe, following his guilty pleas on weapons and unlawful immigration charges.

The court also handed down an additional penalty requiring Mugabe to pay a $36,000 (equivalent to roughly £26,700) fine for his convictions. His co-accused, Tobias Matonhodze, received a far harsher sentence: three years of imprisonment after pleading guilty to a slate of charges including attempted murder, unlawful possession of ammunition, defeating the ends of justice, and illegal entry into South Africa.

The arrests of both men date back to February 19, when local law enforcement responded to a disturbance call at Mugabe’s private residence in Hyde Park, an upscale, exclusive suburb of Johannesburg. During the incident, a 23-year-old security guard was shot and rushed to a local hospital in critical condition. Prosecutors told the court that the violence erupted after a verbal altercation between the three men on the property. As the victim attempted to escape the confrontation by running outside, he was struck by two gunshots to the back, authorities confirmed. To date, the weapon used in the shooting has not been recovered by investigating officers.

Initially, Bellarmine Mugabe also faced a charge of attempted murder connected to the shooting. However, that charge was formally withdrawn after Matonhodze accepted a guilty plea for that offense. The charge of pointing a firearm to which Mugabe pleaded guilty stems from a separate, unconnected incident; South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed earlier this month that Mugabe had agreed to have both cases consolidated into a single hearing to streamline proceedings.

This is not the first time Mugabe has run afoul of the law across the Southern African region. In 2024, he was taken into custody in Zimbabwe’s border town of Beitbridge on allegations of assaulting a serving police officer. He was granted bail following that arrest, but local state-run newspaper *The Herald* reported at the time that an arrest warrant was subsequently reissued after Mugabe failed to appear for his scheduled court hearing. Just one year later, in 2025, he was arrested again on allegations of assaulting a security guard at a mining operation located in Mazowe, a town roughly an hour’s drive north of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. That case remains open and ongoing, with no final ruling issued as of the court’s latest decision in South Africa.

Bellarmine Mugabe is one of two sons born to former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and his second wife, Grace Mugabe. The elder Mugabe, who ruled the southern African nation for 37 years, was removed from power in a military-led coup in 2017 and died in 2019.

JOHANNESBURG – In a landmark ruling handed down Wednesday, a South African magistrate has ordered the immediate deportation of Bellarmine Mugabe, the youngest son of Zimbabwe’s former longtime autocratic ruler Robert Mugabe, after the 29-year-old entered guilty pleas to two criminal charges earlier this month.

Magistrate Renier Boshoff ruled that law enforcement officials must transport Bellarmine Mugabe directly to Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport for expulsion back to his native Zimbabwe. The conviction stems from an arrest in February, when Mugabe and his cousin, Tobias Matonhodze, were taken into custody following a shooting incident at Mugabe’s Johannesburg residence that left a domestic employee injured. Initially, both men faced far more severe attempted murder charges connected to the shooting, but investigators have never recovered the weapon used in the attack.

As part of a plea deal with South African prosecutors, Bellarmine Mugabe pleaded guilty to two reduced charges that are not linked to the shooting: illegally residing in South Africa without valid immigration status, and brandishing an item designed to convince others it was a functional firearm. As part of his sentencing, Mugabe was given the option to pay a fine of roughly $36,000 or serve a two-year prison term, with the deportation order taking effect regardless of his fine payment.

In contrast, Matonhodze pleaded guilty to the full attempted murder charge and additional related offenses, receiving a three-year prison sentence. The magistrate ruled that Matonhodze will also be deported to Zimbabwe once he completes his custodial sentence. Addressing Bellarmine Mugabe directly during the hearing, Boshoff acknowledged the unusual nature of the plea arrangement, noting, “I do not know whether the second accused took the rap for you. Number two pleaded guilty on all these counts… and I can only act on what is before me.”

Bellarmine Mugabe is the youngest child of Robert Mugabe and his second wife, Grace Mugabe. Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe as an autocrat for 37 years, was ousted from power in a 2017 military coup and died two years later at the age of 95. This latest legal action is not the first time the Mugabe family has faced high-profile criminal scrutiny in South Africa. In 2017, when Grace Mugabe still held the position of Zimbabwe’s first lady, she was accused of assaulting a young model with an electrical cord at an upscale Johannesburg hotel, in front of her sons. Though a court initially ordered her to appear for trial, she was ultimately granted diplomatic immunity and avoided prosecution.

Mali has been plunged into a dramatic new phase of its decade-long insurgency after a coordinated multi-group rebel offensive killed the country’s top defense official and forced a strategic retreat by Russian-backed government forces, newly verified video and satellite evidence confirms.

On Saturday, a coalition of jihadist fighters from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-linked group, and Tuareg separatists from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) launched simultaneous attacks across multiple regions of the West African nation. The deadliest strike targeted the residence of Defense Minister Sadio Camara in the garrison town of Kati, located just 12 miles outside the capital Bamako. A suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden vehicle into the compound, sparking a fierce firefight that left Camara dead, according to a Malian government spokesperson. Satellite imagery of the aftermath confirms the entire residence was leveled in the blast, with widespread damage to adjacent properties in the neighborhood.

In response to the Kati attack, the Kremlin-controlled Africa Corps — the Russian paramilitary force that backs Mali’s ruling military junta — launched a series of retaliatory air strikes against rebel positions near the capital. Verified footage posted by the Africa Corps shows attack helicopters launching missiles at ground targets, while drone footage captures a direct missile strike on a rebel convoy speeding along an outer Kati highway, triggering a massive fireball. BBC Verify’s geolocation analysis confirmed all clips were filmed in the Kati area, matching the group’s claims of offensive operations near Bamako.

Despite this show of force, the Africa Corps and Malian government forces have confirmed they have fully withdrawn from Kidal, a strategically critical northern hub that served as the center of government counterinsurgency operations in the region. Kidal was captured by joint Wagner Group and Malian forces in a bloody 2023 battle, and hosted a large heavily armed garrison for over a year. However, intensifying rebel attacks in recent weeks left the base increasingly untenable.

Before the official withdrawal announcement, BBC Verify verified footage showing military convoys evacuating the Kidal base. The Africa Corps claimed it removed all heavy equipment ahead of the pullout, but footage posted by advancing rebels shows multiple armored personnel carriers, patrol vehicles and jeeps were abandoned during the hasty retreat. Verified video from the base after the withdrawal shows rebel fighters freely roaming the abandoned facility. Malian forces have also withdrawn from the more northerly town of Tessalit, and scattered clashes have been reported on the outskirts of Bamako near the Africa Corps’ main headquarters in the capital.

Mali has been mired in a widespread insurgency for more than a decade, and the current military junta seized power in a 2020 coup, arguing the previous civilian government had failed to contain the growing rebel threat. Since the junta took power, it cut security ties with Western nations including France, which pulled all its peacekeeping and counterinsurgency troops out of the country by 2022, and turned to Russian mercenary forces first the Wagner Group and after restructuring of Russian irregular forces, the Kremlin-controlled Africa Corps. Under the terms of the partnership, the Africa Corps provides security support to the junta in exchange for cash and access to Mali’s valuable natural resource reserves.

However, the paramilitary force has been unable to reverse the growing momentum of rebel groups across the country, with a senior French military official estimating last year that the Africa Corps only has around 2,500 personnel deployed across Mali. Late last year, Bamako itself was placed under a rebel blockade, and Saturday’s offensive marks a major new escalation in the conflict, according to regional analysts.

“This is a major escalation of the conflict between the military government and rebel groups,” said Jean-Hervé Jezequel, Sahel director for the International Crisis Group. “Where JNIM originally focused on seizing rural and peripheral areas, it is now directly targeting major population centers.” BBC Verify has confirmed 22 separate videos of rebel movements across seven Malian locations since Saturday’s offensive began, confirming the broad scope of the attacks. The Africa Corps has claimed that as many as 12,000 rebel fighters participated in the coordinated offensive, a figure that has not been independently verified.

Analysts warn the fall of Kidal and the death of Camara represent significant strategic setbacks for both the Malian junta and the Russian Africa Corps model of security partnership. “Other countries that have hired the Africa Corps are watching this very closely,” said Dr. Sorcha MacLeod, a former member of the UN working group on mercenaries and a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen. “The model Moscow offers isn’t working, and it’s already costing poor countries millions of dollars in natural resources. It’s unsustainable.”

Charlie Werb, an analyst with Aldebaran Threat Consultants, noted that while the loss of abandoned armored vehicles will be a tangible loss for the Malian military, it remains unclear whether rebel groups will be able to integrate the heavy equipment into their speed and maneuver-focused insurgent tactics. The setbacks in Mali have already raised new questions about the long-term viability of Russia’s irregular security partnerships across the Sahel, as rebel groups continue to expand their control of territory across the region.

Over the weekend of late April 2026, Mali was thrown into a fresh state of crisis after a wave of coordinated large-scale attacks launched by separate separatist and jihadist militant groups rocked multiple regions across the West African nation, prompting former colonial ruler France and the United Kingdom to issue urgent evacuation orders for all their citizens still present in the country.

Witnesses reported loud explosions echoing across neighborhoods and sustained bursts of automatic gunfire in multiple locations starting Saturday. The violence stretched from the capital city of Bamako to northern frontier regions and central population hubs, marking one of the most broad coordinated assaults on Malian state positions in recent years. Among the most high-profile casualties was Malian Defence Leader Sadio Camara, who was killed in a targeted suicide bombing in the garrison town of Kati, which hosts a major military base just outside Bamako. In the far north, separatist fighters from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), an ethnic Tuareg group pushing for an independent breakaway state, successfully seized full control of the strategic city of Kidal, with clashes continuing into Sunday even after the initial assault.

Official accounts confirm the attacks were coordinated between two distinct factions: FLA separatists focused on capturing northern territory aligned with their decades-long independence campaign, while Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist network, carried out simultaneous bombings and raids on military and government targets across the country. The coordinated nature of the assault exposed critical gaps in the military junta’s security promises, after it seized power in a 2020 coup under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta.

In his first public address since the attacks delivered Tuesday evening, Goïta sought to reassure the public, claiming that Malian armed forces had inflicted a “violent blow” to the attackers and that overall security across the country had been brought back under government control. His claims have not been independently verified, and ongoing tensions in Kidal and other northern areas cast doubt on the junta’s assertion.

On Wednesday, France’s foreign ministry issued an updated advisory leveling its strongest warning yet for French citizens in Mali. “French nationals are advised to make arrangements to leave Mali temporarily as soon as possible on the commercial flights that are still available,” the statement read, adding that all travel to Mali, regardless of purpose, is strongly discouraged. For citizens who cannot immediately depart, the advisory orders them to shelter in place, restrict all non-essential movement, and stay in constant contact with their families and local authorities.

The United Kingdom echoed France’s warning, maintaining evacuation guidelines that were first implemented over the weekend. The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Mali due to the highly unpredictable security landscape, and urges all British citizens already in the country to depart immediately via remaining commercial routes, if they assess it is safe to do so. The advisory explicitly warns against overland travel to neighboring countries, calling the route “too dangerous” due to consistent threats of terrorist attacks along major national highways. “If you choose to remain in Mali, you do so at your own risk,” the UK statement adds, noting that British citizens cannot rely on UK government support for emergency evacuation in the region.

Mali’s current political landscape has been shaped by nearly a decade of overlapping insurgency and political upheaval. The Tuareg rebellion that first broke out in northern Mali in 2012 was quickly hijacked by Islamist militant groups, sparking a long-running security crisis that has destabilized large swathes of the country. Goïta’s military junta seized power in 2020 on a platform of restoring national security and pushing back armed insurgents, earning broad popular support at the time for its pledges to end the chronic instability. After the junta took control, UN peacekeeping forces and French counter-insurgency troops that had been deployed to the region withdrew from the country, and the military government turned to Russian mercenary groups to assist with counter-insurgency operations. Despite this partnership, jihadist insurgency has continued to spread, and large portions of northern and eastern Mali remain outside the control of the central government in Bamako.