SOUTH AFRICAN communists reject xenophobia and xenophobic vigilantism in the country, it said on Saturday.

The statement from the South African Communist Party (SACP) came ahead of a deadline set by vigilante groups for African migrants to leave the country by June 30 2026.

The SACP slammed the “threats, intimidation and attacks directed against African migrants, including the unlawful “deadline.”

The statement said: “No private grouping has the authority to determine who may live, work or travel in our country.”

The SACP recalled that this year commemorates the 71st anniversary of the South African Freedom Charter which declared: The Freedom Charter declares: “There shall be peace and friendship.” 

The charter also affirms that South Africa shall “respect the rights and sovereignty of all nations, strive for world peace and resolve disputes by negotiation rather than war, uphold equal rights and opportunities for all, and recognise the rights of all African peoples to independence and self-governance as the basis for close cooperation.”

The SACP argues that: “The multiple crises that have crippled and are still crippling the ability of millions of individuals and families to support life are not caused by African migrants but are fundamentally rooted in the inherent contradictions and systemic failures of the capitalist system. 

“This is compounded by decades of reformist neoliberal policy failures and maintenance of the paradigm of entrenched private monopoly dominance and concentration, deindustrialisation, mass unemployment, widespread poverty and extreme inequality, while preserving or even reinforcing the structure of ownership and accumulation of wealth on a capitalist basis.”

The SACP said that it rejects “any conduct by the state that appears to legitimise, accommodate or affirm the unlawful deadlines set by vigilante groupings“ and the government must not capitulate “to tribalist or xenophobic pressure.”

The answer is “a left and socialist-orientated transformation and development of the economy, industrial and balanced broader development, decent work, co-ordinated regional integration and working-class unity,” the SACP said.