Who pays when Pakistanis flee South Africa? |
Geerard Adriaen South Africa may feel far away from Pakistan. Yet, it is not. Around 200,000 Pakistanis live in the country, most of them working in small businesses. For many people in Pakistan, South Africa is not simply a country where a relative happens to live. It is where fathers, brothers and sons have built businesses and earn the money on which families back in Pakistan depend. In fiscal year 2026, Pakistan received $290.7 million in workers' remittances from South Africa, far from an insignificant amount. That is why what has been happening there should concern Islamabad.
Xenophobia has been building in South Africa for years, aimed at African and Asian migrants who are blamed for the country's high unemployment, rising crime and strain on public services. The hatred has periodically boiled over into mobs targeting migrant-owned businesses and businesses that employ them. This year it reached a new pitch. In May, the anti-immigrant groups March and March and Operation Dudula demanded that all "illegal........