Anti-migrant campaigns in South Africa are increasingly leveraging democratic language, framing their actions as community protection against crime, unemployment, and failing public services. Groups like "March and March" and "Operation Dudula" use terms such as "clean-ups" and "illegal foreigners" to justify the exclusion and targeting of migrants, who constitute about 5% of the population. This rhetoric, while invoking notions of active citizenship, masks deeper structural issues like inequality and poor governance. The danger lies in normalizing "othering," which can escalate to violence, as evidenced by the 2008 xenophobic attacks and the 2022 killing of Elvis Nyathi. Researchers warn that without addressing socioeconomic hardships and the weaponization of language, such movements risk further division and violence against vulnerable groups.