John Hayward
19 Aug 2026
The protesters blasted Ramaphosa’s government for doing little to secure the borders, and accused corrupt government officials of taking bribes from organized crime gangs to bring more migrants in. Anti-migrant “vigilante” groups formed, setting a date of June 30 for all illegal aliens to leave the country and threatening violent consequences for those who failed to comply.
The South African government estimated that around 82,000 migrants either left the country voluntarily or were deported this year, while neighboring governments said the full total was at least twice that high.
The South African Foreign Ministry ruffled some feathers last week by asking Malawi, Ethiopia, and Nigeria to cover the $18 million cost of repatriating thousands of their nationals who were in South Africa illegally.
Anti-migrant protest groups and vigilantes are still active in South Africa. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the SADC conference in Durban, South Africa on Tuesday, shouting “Come get your people!” at the foreign delegations.
The largest anti-migrant vigilante group, March and March, on Monday announced a new deadline of September 30 for illegal aliens to either leave the country on their own, or be deported. If the deadline is not met, the group threatened to stage “the mother of all protests.”