A Kenyan woman who has been operating a salon business in the town of Estcourt in the uThukela District of KwaZulu-Natal Province is pleading with the government to evacuate her back home after she was forcefully ejected from the business in the ongoing xenophobic attacks targeting foreign nationals in South Africa.
Reports of the attack come a day after the Kenyan High Commission in Pretoria issued an advisory to Kenyans working, studying, and doing business across South Africa.
The Kenyan Diaspora in South Africa (KEDASA), through its Secretary General William Thegeya, revealed to the Eastleigh Voice about the Kenyan female who is in distress and is now begging for evacuation back home after the attack.
“Today, a Kenyan mother of two reached out to KEDASA leadership requesting help to go back home because she was chased away at her hair salon business located in the town of Estcourt, KZN. The business remains open and is being operated by her employees, who, as she said, were directed to take over the business operations by the town Mayor Councillor Mduduzi Tholumuzi Myeza,” said Thegeya.
The woman, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, said the town’s mayor was doing patrols himself and his followers and making sure that no foreign-owned businesses were operating.
The KEDASA leadership said they are set to update the Kenyan High Commission over spiralling reports of Kenyans in distress and in need of urgent help.
“We will be very grateful if all affected Kenyans can get any sort of intervention. We have had a distress situation from another Kenyan community in the town of Bizana, Eastern Cape, where we have cautioned our members to be on high alert and, if possible, to leave that area, even if it’s temporarily,” said Thegeya.
In a widely circulating video where a local is directly threatening Kenyans living in the town of Bizana, Eastern Cape, there is a message that all African foreigners should leave the town of Bizana and the surrounding villages.
According to the locals speaking in the video, it doesn’t make any sense for someone to travel all the way, giving an example with Kenya, and come to their country to become a barber, cut hair or open a small side hustle.
She says all foreigners are given a deadline of May 5 to leave and also appeals to South Africans in other towns nearby Bizana, Lusikisiki and Amapondo to ensure foreigners chased away do not relocate to their towns.
The Kenyan High Commission in Pretoria on Monday warned Kenyans to avoid, as far as possible, areas where protests or demonstrations may be taking place, and to remain attentive to guidance issued by local authorities.
Kenyans in South Africa were also urged to carry valid identification and relevant documentation at all times, and to avoid being caught off guard in tense situations.
Further, the commission urged its citizens to keep in touch with the security agencies there and report any attacks targeting them.
“In the event of any incident or emergency, Kenyan nationals are advised to report the same to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and to inform the Kenya High Commission in Pretoria for appropriate assistance,” urged the High Commission.
South Africa has experienced a sharp resurgence of xenophobic violence in late April and early May 2026, with mobs attacking foreign nationals across Johannesburg, Cape Town, and the Eastern Cape provinces.
Armed vigilante groups have looted and destroyed foreign-owned businesses, displacing over a thousand immigrants in Durban alone. Nationals from Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Lesotho have been among the hardest hit.
Operation Dudula and similar groups have been leading protests demanding the expulsion of foreign nationals, blaming migrants for rising unemployment, crime, and drug abuse amid South Africa’s deepening economic difficulties.
Local political actors and community leaders have further inflamed tensions by amplifying anti-immigrant rhetoric, and fears are now emerging that this could effectively scapegoat vulnerable foreign populations, including Kenyans.
International condemnation of the xenophobic attacks has risen ever since, with the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres warning that violent hatred contradicts the global solidarity extended to South Africa during its historic anti-apartheid struggle.
Nigeria summoned Pretoria’s envoy and evacuated its citizens, while Ghana and Zimbabwe urged stronger protections for migrants. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) demanded prompt investigations and the accountability of perpetrators.
Regional Human Rights bodies such as Amnesty International cautioned that the attacks undermine African integration and damage South Africa’s reputation as a continental advocate for peace, democracy, and inclusive development across the region.
Principal Secretary in the State Department of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Korir Sing’Oei, told the Eastleigh Voice last week that the government is monitoring the situation in South Africa and has not so far recorded notable reports about attacks on Kenyans.
“We have received no credible reports of Kenyans at risk from xenophobic attacks,” said Sing’Oei on Friday.
The lobby of Kenyans living in South Africa estimates the number of Kenyans living in the country to be approximately 40,000.
