Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday that South Africa will roll out measures to curb illegal migration after a series of protests and attacks targeting foreign nationals. He said the state would not tolerate illegal migration, but he also warned that South Africans must not turn against foreign nationals or against one another.
The president’s national address on 7 June 2026 landed after days of anger over undocumented migration, with some people claiming foreign nationals had until 30 June to leave the country. Others said migrants were taking jobs, a charge that has helped fuel the latest unrest and made the government’s response a live political issue now, not a distant policy debate.
Ramaphosa said the country can enforce its laws and secure its communities, and he framed the response as part of a broader effort to deal with illegal migration into South Africa. That message matters because foreign nationals have faced serious harassment during the protests, and in April he was already condemning xenophobic attacks in which some South Africans attacked black Africans and destroyed their businesses.
He also pushed back against the idea that migration explains the country’s deeper economic problems. Speaking at the National Freedom Day celebration in Bloemfontein on Monday 27 April 2026, Ramaphosa said legitimate concerns about illegal migration should not turn into hatred toward fellow Africans and that the issue should not be treated as the cause of all South Africa’s economic challenges. He said many families were already battling poverty and struggling to make ends meet, and that migration is a global issue affecting many countries around the world.
The friction in his message is plain: he is promising a harder line on illegal migration while trying to stop that campaign from becoming a licence for xenophobia. What the government means by “different measures” remains the key open question, and it is the part of the response most people will now be waiting to see.
