Zimbabwean migrants wishing to enter South Africa queue at a passport check before the immigration offices at the Beitbridge crossing, on April 23, 2024. Tainted by graft and mismanagement, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) risks losing its outright parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years.
It might be forced into a coalition government.
Once a flag-bearer for pan-Africanism, it too has adopted a more nationalistic posture.
This month the government greenlighted an overhaul of immigration laws that if adopted would bolster deportations and pull South Africa out of some international refugee treaties.
It followed the creation of the Border Management Authority (BMA) that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa officially launched in October to rationalise work previously done by different government departments. (Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP)