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Ramaphosa to act on ‘illegal immigration’ as anti-foreigner protests spread across SA

Daily Maverick · 🇿🇦 public South Africa · · 1624 words · By Nonkululeko Njilo; Greg Nicolson
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What to know about Ramaphosa to act on ‘illegal immigration’ as anti-foreigner protests spread across SA

As anti-foreigner protests have spread across the country in recent days, with flare-ups in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape, President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged a tougher government response to migration issues while cautioning against xenophobia…

Claims checked 34
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

As anti-foreigner protests have spread across the country in recent days, with flare-ups in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape, President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged a tougher government response to migration issues while cautioning against xenophobia…

Why it matters

On Tuesday, 2 June, protesters in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, targeted foreigners’ homes in Cloverdene and Chief Albert Luthuli, reported News24.

Common ground

In Ladysmith, KZN, hundreds of protesters marched through the streets and visited stores, calling on the government to act against illegal migration.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-06-02-ramaphosa-to-act-on-illegal-i…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 34 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 24
check_circle Corroborated 6
help Insufficient Evidence 2
info Single Source 1
verified Verified By Reference 1
schedule
Claim 1: “About 52.1% of immigrant children were not enrolled in any ECD programme compared to 32.9% of the South African-born population.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 2: “On 29 May, anti-foreigner protesters looted stores in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent sources confirm looting of foreign-owned stores in Estcourt, KZN, around the end of May.
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web search NEUTRAL — Police have diffused looting targeting foreign-owned shops in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).Earlier, shop owners in and around Estcourt had been forced to shut their businesses amid the protests.
https://www.enca.com/news/police-diffuse-looting-estcourt
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Makgoba’s comment comes after police had to take action to disperse locals who looted six foreign-owned stores in Estcourt, in KwaZulu-Natal, on Friday.
https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2026-05-29-watch-kzn-po…
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web search NEUTRAL — In Ladysmith, KZN, hundreds of protesters marched through the streets and visited stores, calling on the government to act against illegal migration.Gauteng has the highest population of immigrants at…
https://www.namibian.com.na/ramaphosa-to-act-on-illegal-immi…
schedule
Claim 3: “A 2023 study into spaza shop ownership demographics found that the majority of owners were Somali nationals at 58%, followed by Ethiopian nationals at 25%. South Africans made up just 8% of spaza shop owners.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 4: “77% of the public agreed in 2025 that immigrants increase crime rates”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the search results to support or refute this claim.
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Claim 5: “Sambo was a South African citizen from Giyani, Limpopo.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources explicitly state that Nhlamulo Sambo was a South African citizen from Giyani, Limpopo.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This article displays the various political parties' party candidate lists for the 2024 South African general election. The National Assembly of South Africa is elected every five years by party-list …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_lists_for_the_2024_South…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 13, 2026 ... A South African family is demanding justice following the death of 19-year-old Nhlamulo Sambo, who was allegedly stabbed to death during unrest ...
https://www.facebook.com/61553973300833/posts/funeral-of-19-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 4, 2026 ... According to relatives, Sambo was a South African citizen from Giyani and had no connection to the allegations that sparked attacks in the area.
https://www.citizen.co.za/letaba-herald/news-headlines/local…
+ 1 more evidence source
help
Claim 6: “Last week, close to 300 Ghanaians fled the country as a result of growing xenophobic tensions and violence in South Africa, boarding a repatriation flight that was organised by the Ghanaian government.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the search results to support or refute this claim.
schedule
Claim 7: “Gauteng has the highest population of immigrants at 51.2%, followed by Western Cape at 13.3%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 7%.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 8: “Nhlamulo Sambo, 18, was killed in Mossel Bay last week.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm the killing of Nhlamulo Sambo in Mossel Bay, though there is a slight discrepancy in age (18 vs 19) across sources, the event itself is corroborated.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 18 is a semiperfect number [1] and an abundant number. In the classification of finite simple groups, there are 18 infinite families of groups. [2] Although 18 and σ (18) = 39 are not coprime, 18 is k…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/18_(number)
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 18 rating refers to a type of age-based content rating that applies to media entertainment, such as films, television shows and computer games. The following articles document the rating across a rang…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/18_rating
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 5, 2026 ... So the Police lied about the murder of Nhlamulo Sambo and the claim that he was killed by the owner of the shack. The suspect has now been ...
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZM7n6XiNIH/
schedule
Claim 9: “SA officials told Daily Maverick that only 10 of the 300 Ghanaians who were to board the flight on Wednesday were properly documented.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 10: “the national unemployment rate for the same time period was 32.9%, the labour force absorption rate was 39.1% and labour force participation rate was 58.3%.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 11: “The population of international migrants stood at 3.1million people or around 5.1% of the total population [Stats SA 2022/23 IES]”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 12: “There were a total of 15,965 international students enrolled [in private higher education institutions], representing 5.6% of total student enrollment.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 13: “political parties including ActionSA have claimed that up to 15 million people are living in the country illegally.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 14: “the population of sentenced and unsentenced foreign nationals in prisons stood 18,000, making up approximately 11% of the incarcerated population [2024 figures]”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 15: “Most immigrants come from SADC countries, which make up 63.4% of the immigrant population.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 16: “Around 56.2% of immigrants are male and 43.8% are female.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 17: “Among immigrants, 23.4% did not attend educational institutions compared to just 5.3% of South Africans.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 18: “foreign-born children represented just 1.87% of total public school enrollments.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 19: “Between July 2024 and January 2025, municipalities nationwide received 82,924 spaza shop registration applications and of these, approximately 37% were submitted by foreign nationals (30,617).”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 20: “In 2023, the total number of foreign students enrolled in higher education institutions was 39,843, representing 3.7% of the total enrollment which stood at 1,071,715”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 21: “Immigrants made up 8.9% of the total workforce, up from 6% in the third quarter of 2012.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 22: “More than a third of international students were from Zimbabwe (35.5%), followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (6.7%), and then Namibia (6.06%).”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
check_circle
Claim 23: “In Mangaung, Free State, on 26 May, protesters looted shops in an anti-foreigner march, leading to 140 arrests.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that over 140 people were arrested following looting and public violence in Bloemfontein/Mangaung around May 25-30, 2026.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Mangaung Prison (Afrikaans: Mangaung-gevangenis) is a maximum security prison in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa. The prison is privately owned and managed by the company G4S as part of a c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangaung_Prison
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (Sotho: Masepala o Moholo wa Mangaung; Zulu: UMasipala weDolobhakazi laseMangawunge; Afrikaans: Mangaung Metropolitaanse Munisipaliteit; Tswana: Mmasepala wa Tor…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangaung_Metropolitan_Municipa…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mangaung Oval is a cricket oval in Bloemfontein, South Africa, mostly used for cricket matches. Previous names for the ground include Springbok Park, Chevrolet Park, Goodyear Park, and OUTsurance Oval…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangaung_Oval
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 24: “the total prison population was 167,000 with 107,456 in total being sentenced and a further 59,887 awaiting sentences [September 2025]”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 25: “in 2025 there were 253,618 foreign-born school children and 3,240 foreign-born school teachers.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 26: “According to 2025 figures, foreign nationals made up 12.4% of the total sentenced prisoner population, equating to 12,676 people.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 27: “foreign staff made up 7.74% of the total post-school education workforce according to 2024 figures.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 28: “42% of respondents now saying they would not welcome any immigrants to the country [according to HSRC]”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web search results for this claim are irrelevant (referring to a novel, a government oversight committee, and a task force) and do not mention HSRC data or immigration percentages.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Aug 28, 2025 · The Deputy Secretary ofDefense, through coordination with USD for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)) as the Department Chief Technical Officer (CTO) according to statue, will consolida…
https://media.defense.gov/2025/Aug/28/2003790021/-1/-1/0/EST…
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web search NEUTRAL — Published in 1969, it recounts the picaresque adventures of Siggy and Graff, two young men who set out to liberate the animals in Vienna’s Hietzinger Zoo as a means of avenging one family’s suffering …
https://archive.org/download/RichardBach2024/John+Irving/The…
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web search NEUTRAL — May 29, 2026 · erred to earlier, to Director Patel. rele were about 200 pages, according to the letter I sent him. Q So, in the letter, you claimed that you learned from a source that the FBI field of…
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Final…
check_circle
Claim 29: “On Tuesday, 2 June, protesters in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, targeted foreigners’ homes in Cloverdene and Chief Albert Luthuli”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web search results confirm that on June 2, protesters in Ekurhuleni targeted homes in Cloverdene and Chief Albert Luthuli.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — May 11, 2026 ... Over 400 families at the Chief Albert Luthuli informal settlement in Benoni have been left out in the cold. The City of Ekurhuleni and the ...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYMyb6bCQvw/?hl=en
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... In Ekurhuleni, demonstrators moved through Cloverdene and Chief Albert Luthuli, targeting homes they alleged house undocumented foreign ...
https://www.news24.com/southafrica/crime-and-courts/anti-imm…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... On Tuesday, 2 June, protesters in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, targeted foreigners' homes in Cloverdene and Chief Albert Luthuli, reported News24.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-06-02-ramaphosa…
schedule
Claim 30: “Out of the 15,528 applications approved during the period under review, 2,586 of them were granted to foreign nationals, making up 17%.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
check_circle
Claim 31: “In Ladysmith, KZN, hundreds of protesters marched through the streets and visited stores, calling on the government to act against illegal migration.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm marches in Ladysmith, KZN, with protesters calling for government action against illegal migration.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago ... This is a call by Africa Diaspora Forum following an anti-illegal immigrants protest in Durban yesterday. Several members of the March in March ...
https://www.facebook.com/MDNNEWS/posts/happening-now-an-anti…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... Hundreds of residents in Ekurhuleni and Ladysmith marched through local streets on Tuesday, demanding that all undocumented immigrants leave ...
https://www.news24.com/southafrica/crime-and-courts/anti-imm…
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web search NEUTRAL — 3 days ago ... The protesters are calling for stricter border controls and the removal of undocumented individuals, claiming that illegal migration is heavily ...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaC5X_lMXEC/
verified
Claim 32: “62 people were killed [in the 2008 xenophobic attacks]”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The death toll of 62 people in the 2008 xenophobic attacks is confirmed by Wikipedia, Human Rights Watch, and the UNHCR via Deutsche Welle.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — According to the 2022 census, the population of South Africa is about 62 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions, with a majority being Black Africans. The South African …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_South_Africa
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The May 2008 South African riots was a wave of xenophobic riots starting in Alexandra, Gauteng (a neighborhood of Johannesburg) on 12 May 2008 and then spreading to other locations across South Africa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2008_South_Africa_riots
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Locals and immigrants have faced discrimination and even violence in South Africa due to competition for scarce economic opportunities. Xenophobia has a long and complex history and many instances of …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia_in_South_Africa
+ 4 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 33: “The majority of immigrant workers were found working in private households (18.4%), followed by construction (17.2%) and retail (13.6%).”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 34: “In 2022, the unemployment rate for immigrants in the third quarter was 18.2%, their labour force absorption was 64%, and their labour force participation rate was 78.3%.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.