What is Xenowatch?
Developed by the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of Witwatersrand, Xenowatch is an open source system for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping that allows crowdsourcing of information and data on xenophobic discrimination incidents in South Africa using the following reporting methods: Email, WhatsApp and Call. Xenowatch tracks, verifies, records and analyzes all forms of xenophobic discrimination as well as responses or interventions by all relevant stakeholders including government and civil society. It serves as an early warning system that notifies authorities and civil society about threats and violence and calls for immediate and appropriate response. Xenowatch data is analyzed to identify violence causal factors and characteristics of communities at risk in ways that can inform early warning and more effective conflict prevention/resolution interventions.
Featured Project:
The Mobility Governance Lab (MGL) explores the governance of mobility at multiple scales across the global south. It is an autonomous, critical space working to realise principles of innovation, independence, and equitable partnership.
Reports & Publications
Policy decision-making pandering to political populism? the non-renewal of Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEPS) by South Africa
This policy brief discusses the issue of the non-renewal of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEPs) and contends that the decision taken by the DHA was a populist move that failed to address the well-being of those affected. Furthermore, the policy brief advances the views of civil society organisations and others who have urged the state…
Panel Discussion: The Implications of Xenophobic Violence for Trade & Transformation
Wits University’s African Centre for Migration & Society and the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab held a hybrid panel discussion reflecting on the meaning and implications of xenophobic violence for South Africa’s economic and political future.
SABC Discussion on South African Proposed Immigration White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection
The Ministry of Home Affairs has released a new draft bill which will affect foreigners residing in South Africa, known as the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection from the previous year. In this bill, the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, stated that the government is amending the existing law regulating…
