As the anti-foreigner 30 June deadline draws closer, the state can't afford to hesitate -- there needs to be lawful action.

In a little over two weeks, a date looms over South Africa that no court has ordered, no statute has sanctioned, and no organ of state has endorsed. It was conjured by a private movement with no legal authority whatsoever. Yet the fear it has generated is entirely real.

The June 30 deadline issued by a private movement demanding that undocumented foreign nationals leave South Africa has no legal force whatsoever. Not one person, not one organisation outside of the state has the authority to instruct any individual to leave this country. The police have said so. The courts have consistently affirmed it. The Constitution is unambiguous. Enforcement of immigration law is the exclusive function of the state and the state alone.

Yet hundreds of foreign nationals are sleeping outside Home Affairs offices. Governments in Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi, Ghana and Zimbabwe are repatriating their citizens. South African law does require those who are in the country unlawfully to depart. But that is not who is fleeing.

Many, perhaps most of those now leaving or queuing in fear, are people with valid documentation, people with pending applications whose status has simply not yet been decided, people who have...