President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged a crackdown on illegal migration while urging against xenophobia and vigilantism while tabling the Presidency Budget Vote in Parliament on Tuesday, 2 June 2026. (Photo: Phando Jikelo / Parliament RSA) As anti-foreigner protests have spread across the country in recent days, with flare-ups in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape, President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged a tougher government response to migration issues while cautioning against xenophobia and vigilantism.
On Tuesday, 2 June, protesters in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, targeted foreigners’ homes in Cloverdene and Chief Albert Luthuli, reported News24. In Ladysmith, KZN, hundreds of protesters marched through the streets and visited stores, calling on the government to act against illegal migration.
Speaking during the Presidency Budget Vote in Parliament on Tuesday, Ramaphosa outlined government’s plans to strengthen immigration enforcement.
“As we work to build a safer, more stable and more prosperous society, we need to address the challenge of migration. When it is well managed and regulated, migration can help drive growth and opportunity for South Africans.
“However, we need to deal with illegal migration. We have seen how illegal immigration can put pressure on our public services and undermine our efforts to create decent work,” Ramaphosa said.
The President’s comments come as surveys show that anti-foreigner sentiment continues to grow. At the same time, groups such as March and March continue to gain traction and pressure the government to take a stronger stance on immigration.
Several groups have raised concerns that the anti-foreigner movements and protests, which tap into grievances over unemployment, crime and overcrowded public services, could have deadly consequences, as seen in multiple xenophobic flare-ups since the 2008 attacks, in which 62 people were killed.
Nhlamulo Sambo, 18, was killed in Mossel Bay last week. On the same day, there was a violent anti-foreigner protest in the area. Sambo was a South African citizen from Giyani, Limpopo.
*While his family maintains that he was targeted after being mistaken for a foreign national, preliminary police investigations have, however, found no evidence linking his death to the protests. Police say Sambo was allegedly killed during a separate criminal incident involving an attempted theft at a shack.
In Mangaung, Free State, on 26 May, protesters looted shops in an anti-foreigner march, leading to 140 arrests. On 29 May, anti-foreigner protesters looted stores in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal.
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On Tuesday in Parliament, Ramaphosa said, “We are cracking down on violations of immigration laws. We are increasing our inspections of workplaces and prosecuting employers who violate our labour laws. We are strengthening border security, stamping out corruption in the immigration system and closing the loopholes in fragmented immigration laws.”
While embracing tougher immigration enforcement, he stressed, “Every person in South Africa – whether they are citizens or foreign nationals – must respect our laws, and the rights of every person in our country must be upheld. We must never give in to violence, xenophobia or vigilantism.”
“As a society, we must stand against all forms of disinformation, incitement, racism and ethnic mobilisation. We will strengthen and enforce our laws, while upholding the Constitution and the human dignity of all. This will enable us to deal with illegal immigration without turning against one another,” the President said.
Anti-foreigner sentiment reaches new heights
According to public opinion data recently released by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), anti-foreigner sentiment has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic, with 42% of respondents now saying they would not welcome any immigrants to the country.
“South African Social Attitudes Survey data shows that the South African public, which already displayed relatively unfavourable attitudes towards foreign nationals, has become considerably more antagonistic towards immigrants over the last five years. In fact, the data shows that the levels of hostility towards immigrants recorded in 2025 are the highest observed since the start of measurement in 2003,” said the HSRC in May.
“One of the reasons for this increase in hostility in recent years is that immigrants are increasingly being perceived as an economic threat. Additional analysis confirms that South Africans in 2025 are more likely than before the Covid-19 pandemic to associate immigrants with crime and economic competition.
“For instance, 77% of the public agreed in 2025 that immigrants increase crime rates; a figure that is 13 percentage points higher than the level recorded in 2018.”
/file/attachments/orphans/Nonku-PresidencyBudgetVote_476334.jpg "Anti-foreigner sentiment is at an all-time high since 2003. (Source: HSRC South African Social Attitudes Survey 2003-2023)")
Human Rights Watch researcher Nomathamsanqa Masiko-Mpaka recently commented, “South Africa’s Constitution and international human rights law protect the right to protest, but that does not include permission to commit violence.”
She continued, “South African authorities should intensify efforts to address anti-immigrant sentiments and violence to ensure the safety and protection of at-risk foreign nationals in the country,” Masiko-Mpaka said. “Vigilante groups need to be held fully accountable, including through effective criminal prosecutions.”
Last week, close to 300 Ghanaians fled the country as a result of growing xenophobic tensions and violence in South Africa, boarding a repatriation flight that was organised by the Ghanaian government. SA officials told Daily Maverick that only 10 of the 300 Ghanaians who were to board the flight on Wednesday were properly documented.
MIGRATION IN NUMBERS
Population
The Stats SA Report on Migration Statistics based on the 2022/23 Income and Expenditure Survey (IES) showed that the population of international migrants stood at 3.1million people or around 5.1% of the total population. Around 56.2% of immigrants are male and 43.8% are female.
Most immigrants come from SADC countries, which make up 63.4% of the immigrant population. About 25.4% came from the rest of Africa and 11.4% came from outside Africa. Gauteng has the highest population of immigrants at 51.2%, followed by Western Cape at 13.3%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 7%.
Basic education
According to the Department of Basic Education, in 2025 there were 253,618 foreign-born school children and 3,240 foreign-born school teachers. The total number of children recorded on the Learner Unit Record Information and Tracking System (LURITS) for the year was 13,596,869, meaning foreign-born children represented just 1.87% of total public school enrollments.
The IES 2022/2023 showed migrant children were less likely to be enrolled in educational programmes. About 52.1% of immigrant children were not enrolled in any ECD programme compared to 32.9% of the South African-born population. Among immigrants, 23.4% did not attend educational institutions compared to just 5.3% of South Africans.
Higher education
In 2023, the total number of foreign students enrolled in higher education institutions was 39,843, representing 3.7% of the total enrollment which stood at 1,071,715 according to statistics from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). More than a third of international students were from Zimbabwe (35.5%), followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (6.7%), and then Namibia (6.06%).
There were slightly more international students enrolled in private higher education institutions. There were a total of 15,965 international students enrolled, representing 5.6% of total student enrollment.
In a parliamentary reply published in February 2026, the DHET confirmed that foreign staff made up 7.74% of the total post-school education workforce according to 2024 figures. Approximately 82.89% of these staff members served as instructional or research professionals while the remainder were in technical, support, and administrative positions. Section 38 of the Immigration Act (Act 13 of 2002) prohibits institutions from hiring undocumented workers.
Employment
The most recent Stats SA data looking at immigrant employment rates is found in their 2023 Migration Profile Report for South Africa. In 2022, the unemployment rate for immigrants in the third quarter was 18.2%, their labour force absorption was 64%, and their labour force participation rate was 78.3%. Immigrants made up 8.9% of the total workforce, up from 6% in the third quarter of 2012.
In comparison, the national unemployment rate for the same time period was 32.9%, the labour force absorption rate was 39.1% and labour force participation rate was 58.3%.
The majority of immigrant workers were found working in private households (18.4%), followed by construction (17.2%) and retail (13.6%).
Prison population
Prisons in South Africa remain overcrowded. The national approved bed space in prisons is 107 346. Yet, in a September 2025 parliamentary reply to Build One South Africa, the department stated that the total prison population was 167,000 with 107,456 in total being sentenced and a further 59,887 awaiting sentences.
According to 2024 figures by the Department of Correctional Services, the population of sentenced and unsentenced foreign nationals in prisons stood 18,000, making up approximately 11% of the incarcerated population. According to 2025 figures, foreign nationals made up 12.4% of the total sentenced prisoner population, equating to 12,676 people.
Spaza shop ownership
Exact figures on spaza shop owners are difficult to find owing to the number of unregistered shops. A 2023 study into spaza shop ownership demographics found that the majority of owners were Somali nationals at 58%, followed by Ethiopian nationals at 25%. South Africans made up just 8% of spaza shop owners.
Following widespread reports of contaminated food being sold in spaza shops, the Department of Cooperative Governance launched nationwide spaza shop registration campaigns. Between July 2024 and January 2025, municipalities nationwide received 82,924 spaza shop registration applications and of these, approximately 37% were submitted by foreign nationals (30,617). Out of the 15,528 applications approved during the period under review, 2,586 of them were granted to foreign nationals, making up 17%.
15 million illegal immigrants?
There are currently no reliable figures on the number of irregular or illegal immigrants residing in South Africa owing to difficulties in tracking irregular movement and collecting reliable data. However, a number of political parties including ActionSA have claimed that up to 15 million people are living in the country illegally. This was a misrepresentation of available data, which ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has since publicly acknowledged.
Fact-checking organisation Africa Check has since debunked the claim, tracing its origin to 2018 data from the World Bank. However, this World Bank data looked at all people in South Africa who lack legal identity documents and includes South African citizens. The Department of Home Affairs has also distanced itself from the claim. DM