Immigration-related tensions escalated into unrest in Soweto and Durban on Thursday, with 14 vehicles reportedly burned as clashes and protests intensified. In Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, clashes were reported between South African residents and foreign nationals, including foreign shop owners. Gunshots were reportedly fired during the confrontation, while several vehicles were set alight. In Durban, tensions also escalated around the Home Affairs refugee offices, where protesters gathered over immigration-related concerns. Police used tear gas to disperse protesters as vehicles were…

The Department of Water and Sanitation has resolved to lay criminal charges against the City of Ekurhuleni and the Ekurhuleni Water Care Company (ERWAT) over alleged ongoing pollution at the Hartebeesfontein Wastewater Treatment Works (HWTW). Deputy Minister Dr Jack Bloom, accompanied by Victor Nkuna, a representative of the Limpopo-Olifants Catchment Agency, laid the charges at Olifantsfontein Police Station on Thursday. Bloom said the decision followed what he described as the municipality’s failure to adequately address residents’ complaints about pollution from…

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has suggested that South Africans are ungrateful for the work being done by the government. Ntshavheni was part of an emergency media briefing by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Immigration, during which she questioned criticism of the government as unreasonable. The media engagement followed a wave of misinformation about the latest Constitutional Court ruling barring the government from deporting illegal immigrants before considering their applications for asylum. Many people, deliberately or otherwise, interpreted the ruling…