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.
Reports & Publications
Exclusionary cohesion? Rethinking the nexus between social cohesion and xenophobic violence in South Africa
For years, social cohesion has been championed as a remedy for violence and division. But what happens when the very bonds that unite communities also mobilise them against outsiders? This new publication by Dr Jean-Pierre Misago (ACMS) draws on nearly two decades of multi-case qualitative research across South Africa, this article challenges the conventional wisdom.…
International Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Addressing and Eradicating Xenophobia in the Southern African Region
Dr Jean Pierre Misago (Senior Researcher and Co-Director, ACMS) observed at the University Johannesburg‘s CICLASS conference on xenophobia (26–27 March 2026), that xenophobic discrimination is rising despite years of intervention, driven by governance failures, restrictive migration laws, and a political economy that rewards exclusion. He called for a shift from changing attitudes to protecting rights…
PODCAST: 30 June: Legal immigration deadline or public misinformation?
Professor Loren Landau (African Centre for Migration & Society) joined Jeremy Maggs on MoneyWeb to unpack the 30 June deadline, a threat issued by vigilante groups, not the South African government. Landau’s assessment: “This deadline is extraordinarily important. The government has tried to take the wind out of the sails of these movements. But the…
