Immigration crisis in South Africa: more than 160,000 migrants have fled

JOHANNESBURG: More than 160,000 illegal immigrants have fled South Africa after thousands of citizens took to the streets demanding foreigners leave, as hundreds of thousands of South Africans followed many in the West in rebelling against the government because of poor border controls, and they feel they are doing nothing.

Another South African organization says there are up to 30 million illegal immigrants in a country with 63 million registered citizens. These immigrants, most of whom are undocumented, are accused of rampant crime, taking jobs and filling the wards of hospitals and public schools.

In other cases, groups have gone from house to house in places like Soweto, near Johannesburg, giving days for the immigrants to go home. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that 900 people were arrested on the day of the protest across the country. Although the protests were peaceful, police were called to disperse violent protesters in other parts of the country. It was reported that one person died in the Johannesburg area.

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Some illegal immigrants have boarded buses and left, or been sent back to their countries on flights provided by their countries across Africa. On one such flight to Ghana in June, South African border authorities said 321 of the 332 Ghanaians who tried to leave Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport were found to be in the country illegally.

An estimated five immigrants have been killed by protesters so far this year, but South Africa’s most prominent anti-immigrant group, the March and March movement, says it is against violence. It is their followers who march through the streets of the country, often carrying large traditional sticks called knobkerries, ‘encouraging’ the immigrants to leave.

Their founder and leader, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, told Fox News Digital that “Enough is enough,” saying that the number of illegal immigrants living in South Africa is “between 15 and 30 million, and that’s a debatable number because everyone is always arguing about what the real number is.”

Undocumented immigrants line up next to a bus at the Durban Drive In in Durban, June 29, 2026 preparing to leave before the camp is closed and work will be transferred to the border with Zimbabwe. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed on June 25 that he will end all efforts to undermine the nation during the marches planned against immigrants next week, due to discrimination against immigrants. (Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images)

The 30 million figure is disputed. The only official published statistics for the 2022 population census by Statistics SA, which was questioned by some critics because this organization is run by the ANC government, is attacked because it is said to be causing the problem of illegal immigration and therefore seems to be benefiting from the low numbers. The body says there are up to three million immigrants in the country, but Ngobese-Zuma points out that this number includes people with documents “using the numbers of those who are allowed to be in the country legally.”

Immigrants have often been seen fleeing when asked by officials, including Stats SA officials, to produce their documents. The head of Statistics SA, Risenga Maluleke, even admitted to his local Eyewitness News that his officers do not look at the information when they can find immigrants, he said “when people say I was born outside of South Africa, we take what they say because we had no other way to prove that than trusting what they say.

Protesters set fires on the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 30, 2026. (Reuters)

Ngobese-Zuma continued, “The country is under attack, and we decided to do something about it. There are too many crimes that happen at the hands of immigrants. The reality is that most of them are not found because nobody knows who they are. They are not on the record. Their fingers are not in the system. So there is [are] there are many unsolved cases when it comes to illegal immigrants.”

Statistics South Africa recently reported that the unemployment rate in this country is 32.7%. However, almost all illegal immigrants have found work here, as the President of the country, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, presented his speech on television last month, “Some employers hire immigrants without immigration papers because they pay them wages far below the minimum wage and make them work long hours without proper compensation.

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This led Ngobese-Zuma of March and March to say, “The issue of jobs is also very important. In our society, where there is a high number of unemployed people, it is clear that the people of South Africa want it to be prioritized when it comes to employment.”

Several reports say that at the Johannesburg government hospital, which was built to provide free care to South African citizens, patients, even in the ER, have to wait up to 36 hours to be seen, because many foreigners come to the hospital and use the services. At least one patient died while waiting to be seen at Helen Joseph Hospital, near the city centre.

The leader of Mashi and Mashi, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, leads the protest of the Mashi and March organization in Mtwalume, south of Durban, on July 9, 2026. Previously, the group held marches across the country on June 30, 2026, and has urged its followers to continue demonstrating every Thursday. The organization calls on the government to strengthen measures to combat illegal immigration and deport undocumented immigrants. The protests come amid broader national discussions about border security, law enforcement, economic pressures, and South Africa’s attitude towards immigrants. (Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images)

Ngobese-Zuma stated that, “We have a welfare program (health and education) in the country, now people are coming from all over the African continent and the world to benefit from these free things that they think are free when in fact they are not taxed.”

Border controls are so lax that hundreds of thousands are said to be crossing low-lying rivers in some cases to enter South Africa, with crocodiles more of a problem than police or immigrants. Bribery and corruption at the borders is rife. But following public outcry, and perhaps with local elections coming up, President Ramaphosa has now vowed to ‘deal’ with immigration issues. As of July 11, the government says a total of 53,449 foreigners have been processed for deportation and repatriation.

This means that there are less than 0.2% of the immigrants who are said to be there in March and March. Social pressure groups, and politicians like Herman Mashaba, are asking the government to do more, and more. Mashaba is the president of Action SA, a small but campaigning group in the South African parliament, which has been fighting illegal immigration for 10 years.

Mashaba told Fox News Digital that, “Action SA is very frustrated with the weak and inconsistent government action on South African immigration, which is the result of the failure of the ANC (the ruling party) to protect our borders for three decades,”

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Anti-immigrant marchers walk the streets of Johannesburg on the day of a deadline set by anti-immigrant groups for all undocumented immigrants to leave, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 30, 2026. (REUTERS/Oupa Nkosi)

“Instead of introducing a meaningful shift in our thinking, which we believe must be focused on mass deportations and an urgent strengthening of the immigration workforce, the government appears intent on simply rehashing failed and outdated policies that have done nothing to address the consequences of weak border control and underinvestment in our immigration enforcement.”

“Like in Europe, South Africans have turned against their government on immigration policy,” commentator Frans Cronje told Fox News Digital. Cronje, president of the Washington-based Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, added, “A poll conducted earlier this year ranked immigration as the second most pressing concern for South Africans after unemployment. Overall, 23.0% of South Africans cited unemployment as the most pressing issue for the government to address, followed by 11.7% citing immigration, and 10.1% citing crime.”

Cronje went on to say, “black people in South Africa (82 percent) were three times more likely than white people to see immigration as a problem for the government to deal with. Hostility towards immigrants is increasing as there are frequent protests and threats against immigrant communities who are accused of taking jobs and businesses from South Africans, and driving a high crime rate”.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the State of the Union Address in Cape Town, South Africa, on February 12, 2026. (Rodger Bosch/Pool via Reuters)

Responding to Ngobese-Zuma when asked why activists like Mdasa and Mdasa are standing up, he said “it is the government that should be the one to ensure that if people say they don’t want certain people in their communities, it removes them before the communities remove them themselves. I think the government is not only happy with the issue of immigration, but our government is complacent about crime, especially since there is a lot to do.”

Anti-immigrant protests have turned violent in recent years. 62 were killed in their beds in 2008, and at least five in 2015.

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Ngobese-Zuma admits that the members of Mashi and Mashi are gatvol – the Afrikaner language, which is politely put as complete exhaustion, telling Fox News Digital that “We don’t care what country comes and tells us that we are racist. Enough is enough, and no one can tell us that we should now accept people living in our country illegally.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the South African government, but did not receive a response.