For more than two decades, Brian Muziringa, 53, has built a life in South Africa through systems that have often treated his presence as temporary, doubtful or disposable.
He has slept on Johannesburgs streets, queued outside refugee reception offices, waited months for documents, lost opportunities because of paperwork that did not arrive, and now watches as anti-migrant groups try to turn public frustration into a deadline for foreigners to leave.
As the global community observes World Refugee Day on Saturday, under the theme Until everyone is safe, for Muziringa the escalation of anti-migrant sentiment has made the gap between legal protection and safety impossible to ignore. Though the rhetoric is often framed around illegal foreigners, he said the distinction disappears on the ground.
