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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed on Sunday to address concerns about illegal migration after a surge in anti-immigrant protests and hostile sentiment. His national television address acknowledged growing tensions as other countries warned their citizens have been targeted in xenophobic attacks. Protest groups demanding action have set a June 30 deadline for foreign nationals they say are in South Africa illegally and have asked to meet the government.
South Africa has a history of violence sparked by anger over the presence of migrants, including in 2008 when more than 60 people were killed in what international rights groups called xenophobic attacks on foreigners.
Groups calling for a new crackdown on immigration have gained attention in recent months with a series of protests. They say foreign nationals in South Africa illegally are exacerbating its extremely high unemployment and placing more pressure on already strained public health and education services.
“Many South Africans are raising difficult but legitimate questions,” Ramaphosa said. “These concerns are real. They deserve to be heard, and they deserve to be addressed.”
But Ramaphosa also said that authorities would not tolerate anyone taking the law into their own hands.
“Only authorized government officials can act against violations of our law,” Ramaphosa added, warning that some groups were “inciting” tensions.
As the richest country in the region, South Africa has traditionally attracted migrants from neighboring countries Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho, as well as from others like Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi and Ethiopia. Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Mozambique said recently that their citizens have faced threats and violence in South Africa because they are foreigners.
South Africa’s coalition government placed a new focus on the issue of immigration after it was formed in 2024 and says it has deported over 100,000 people in the last two years who were in the country illegally. Ramaphosa said Sunday that around 450,000 people trying to enter South Africa without documents had been stopped at the border in the last year.
There are no official figures for how many migrants are in South Africa illegally, though various estimates have put the number at between 2 million and 5 million out of a population of 62 million.
