A statement by around 400 health professionals has appealed for South African society and its government to reject xenophobia ahead of today’s deadline set by the March and March movement for undocumented migrants to leave the country.

Prepared by Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness public health specialist Prof Hassan Mohamed and academic Dr Rebecca Walker, the statement called xenophobia a public health crisis, expressing concerns that the rhetoric against migrants could spark violence against them. It was endorsed by a range of personalities in the healthcare system, including such prominent names as Prof Glenda Gray, Prof Shabir Madhi, and Prof Alex van den Heever.

Acknowledging the severe challenges confronting South Africa’s people, it denounced today’s deadline as “arbitrary” and failing to “provide a lawful or constructive response” to the challenges.

South Africa needed to remain faithful to the strictures of its Constitution and the values that it aspired to create. “It is critically important that the response to migration challenges upholds human dignity, constitutional values, and the rule of law, while recognising the longstanding social, economic, and cultural ties that connect South Africa to the broader continent,” the statement read.

It went on to note government’s commitments to confronting xenophobia and not allowing xenophobic vigilantism. It did, however, criticise the government’s position for casting illegal migration as a “a significant driver of South Africa’s economic difficulties”. This, it continued, was “not supported by available evidence, and one that risks reinforcing the narrative that is fuelling the current climate of fear”.

“Xenophobia is a serious public health issue,” the statement affirmed. “Violence, intimidation, and exclusion cause direct physical and psychological harm, disrupt access to healthcare, undermine disease prevention and treatment programmes, and weaken social cohesion. These impacts affect not only migrants and refugees but communities as a whole. The escalating xenophobic activities of organised groups, against the backdrop of the unlawful 30 June 2026 deadline, carry a serious risk of large-scale violence being directed at refugees and migrants.”

To this end, the statement called on the government to provide effective protection to migrants, for all actors to take action to address misinformation, for the development of healthcare policies to reaffirm the right of all people in the country to receive care, for “sensitive and dignified treatment of all refugees and migrants” by all organs of the state irrespective of their legal standing, and an end to the scapegoating of refugees and migrants.

This comes on top of several earlier civil society appeals against xenophobia in advance of the “deadline”. A coalition of 134 organisations launched a campaign of “ruthless solidarity” named “Siyafana Sonke” (“We are all the same”), while a group of civil society figures – most associated with think tanks – put out a collective appeal to halt mass arrests and deportations. Faith leaders have met senior government officials to discuss their concerns.

However, some observers have argued that while the concerns about xenophobia and its potential for stoking violence are valid, the public conversation has failed to see how it is related to the wider stigmatisation of “outsider” groups in South Africa’s politics.

Terence Corrigan, a researcher at the South African Institute of Race Relations, points to incitement against farmers, or politicians discussing “the Indian question” or claiming that Coloured people are in “oversupply” in the Western Cape. Framing policy debates in terms of “our people” or suggesting that certain groups are potentially disloyal to the country exists in the same continuum as xenophobia. “Hatred and stigmatisation are inherently given to jumping borders,” he observes.