Johannesburg – South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber has disclosed that the state has already spent nearly R80 million in the 2024 to 2025 financial year on deporting illegal immigrants. He gave the figures in a written response to Patriotic Alliance MP Millicent Mothapa in Parliament.
According to Schreiber, deportations cost R32 million in the 2022 to 2023 financial year, before rising to more than R67 million in 2023 to 2024. Over 113 000 people were deported during that period.
Lawmakers in Cape Town have raised concerns about the growing costs, warning that foreign nationals with criminal backgrounds are using South Africa as a safe haven. They cited instances where convicted murderers fled countries with the death penalty and entered South Africa to avoid harsher punishments.
Officials from Home Affairs told Parliament that such cases are handled jointly with the Departments of Correctional Services and International Relations. Still, MPs argued that the burden of housing and feeding deportees while they await removal is draining public finances.
Schreiber said South Africa must maintain a zero tolerance approach to illegal immigration, warning that a softer stance would worsen the problem. He stressed that deportations follow due legal processes and are necessary to uphold the rule of law.
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