{"id":38375,"date":"2026-06-30T07:46:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=38375"},"modified":"2026-06-30T07:46:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:46:01","slug":"sas-anti-migrant-deadline-forces-fathers-to-leave-families-behind","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sas-anti-migrant-deadline-forces-fathers-to-leave-families-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"SA&#8217;s anti-migrant deadline forces fathers to leave families behind"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">With anti-migrant sentiment escalating in South Africa (SA), Malawian John \u200bAllen threw some clothes in a bag, said goodbye to his SA girlfriend and their \u200cone-year-old son, and left to catch a bus out of the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">He has now been waiting in a makeshift camp in the city of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province for four days with thousands of other people hoping to depart before June 30, an unofficial deadline set by anti-immigrant groups for all \u200bundocumented foreigners to leave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Although the government has not condoned the deadline and condemns the violence, it has been \u200bcriticized by other African states and civil society groups for failing to stamp it out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;The\u00a0\u2060reason I would like to stay is I feel bad for my child. He&#8217;s too young. When I&#8217;m gone who&#8217;s\u00a0\u200bgoing to support him?&#8221; said Allen, 30.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The child&#8217;s mother, who is South African, only earns about $30 (R500) a week \u200bas a cleaner, but Allen had been earning four times that doing contract work for a manufacturing company, although he was undocumented.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">As anti-immigrant protests surged in recent weeks some of the foreigners in his neighbourhood were beaten up, he said, and now almost everyone has left.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;There&#8217;s \u200btwo options, I can lose my life or I can leave,&#8221; he told Reuters, standing with other men amid piles \u200bof luggage, waiting for a bus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":38376,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-38375","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA's anti-migrant protest","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38377,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38375\/revisions\/38377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}