In the first seven months of this year, the Department of Home Affairs detained and deported nearly 38,000 undocumented foreign nationals. This came at a cost of more than R460 million.
Responding to a parliamentary question, Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber noted that some 12,000 of those deported were Zimbabweans, followed by Malawians, Mozambicans and Basotho nationals. However, these figures only account for the number of undocumented foreign nationals detained and deported, and not arrests made by other law enforcement agencies.
Schreiber says the figures also don’t include the “vast numbers” of people who had been processed by Home Affairs for repatriation. Between 14 June and 20 August 2026, about 86,600 foreign nationals were processed for deportation and repatriation through coordinated law enforcement operations.
