Xenophobic unrest in South Africa leads to significant losses for small businesses, as vital foreign customers and workers flee, highlighting the positive economic contributions of migrants.

A Rosettenville, Johannesburg, business owner, who spoke to Daily Maverick on condition of anonymity, said his business turnover was 30% down for June as a result of the xenophobic unrest.

"The first reason for that is that our customers have left, so there aren't as many people in the area, because a lot of our customers are foreign nationals ... not only the illegal people, but also the affluent legal people who are from other countries," he said.

He noted that he had lost two of his "best staff members", who had been forced to return to their countries.

"When I bought the store about five years ago, they were already employed. Although the one worker came to the country legally, his papers expired, and when we tried to renew them, there were huge bribes that we were asked to pay," he told Daily Maverick.

"I don't know what the future holds. I've lost my two best workers, so there's a good chance I'm going to close the shop. I was trying to recover after Covid and started at zero, trying to get the shop profitable, but I think this is it," he said sadly.

While no formal estimate has...