Migrant rights activists in South Africa say the government could save millions of rands by regularising undocumented migrants already living in the country instead of spending heavily on deportations, arguing that regularised migrants can contribute to the economy through taxes and formal employment.
The call comes after South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs (DHA) revealed it spent more than R175 million deporting 111 464 foreign nationals over the past two financial years.
In written responses to parliamentary questions from Members of Parliament on September 3, 2026, Home Affairs Minister, Dr Leon Schreiber, said the department deported 51 650 foreign nationals in the 2024/25 financial year at a cost of R101 773 704.72.
A further 59 814 people were deported in 2025/26, costing R73 375 375.62.
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The total expenditure over the two years was R175 149 080.34.
On the X platform, Dr Schreiber defended the expenditure, saying the R175 million amounted to approximately R1 571 per deportation and demonstrated that Home Affairs was “executing its legal mandate effectively”.
The minister’s comments indicate the South African government views the expenditure primarily through the lens of its legal responsibility to enforce immigration laws, while migrant activists have posed whether South Africa should continue relying heavily on deportation as an enforcement tool or expand pathways for regularisation and economic integration of migrants already living in the country.
In interviews with CITE, migrant activists argued the above figures should prompt a broader debate on whether deportation is the most economically sensible response to irregular migration.
Dr Vusumuzi Sibanda, leader of the African Diaspora Global Network, said regularising migrants would allow them to participate more fully in the formal economy while reducing the costs associated with detention and deportation.
“It is obviously easier to regulate people than the cost of deportation for the same reason, and specifically, like you have asked, that they do contribute to the economy and then they obviously are not a burden if they lose in an event, properly, followed,” he said.
Dr Sibanda argued deportations were increasingly driven by political considerations rather than economic logic.
“The challenge is that the decision to deport people is a political decision meant to please a certain official group of people who do not like foreigners and use it to campaign and to scapegoat service delivery, as something that is caused by poor service delivery, something that is caused by illegal immigration,” said the legal expert.
He further noted politicians could gain more immediate political mileage from promising tough action against undocumented migrants than from pursuing long-term regularisation policies.
“For that reason, then we end up having people trying to prioritise it because it’s cheap points for politicking. And that is why pursuing long-term regularisation policies will never be done, despite the logic,” Dr Sibanda said.
Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Community in South Africa, Nicholas Ngqabutho Mabhena, said authorities should instead focus on regularising migrants already in the country in line with the principles outlined in South Africa’s 2017 White Paper on International Migration.
“Our view is to regularise those already in the country in line with the gazetted 2017 White Paper on International Migration,” he said.
Mabhena argued that deportation often fails to provide a lasting solution because some migrants eventually return to South Africa.
“In most cases, those deported always find their way back to South Africa. We think it is cheaper to regularise as people will pay tax in South Africa, contributing to the economy,” he said.
Critical studies scholar, Dr Khanyile Mlotshwa, said the financial cost of deportations provided a strong basis for questioning the sustainability of the policy, although the economic cost of undocumented migration was more difficult to quantify.
“Deportation is unattractive, compared to regularisation, for example, for the South African government as it costs millions of rands annually. Yet there is no other known or quantifiable cost of illegalised immigration,” said the fundi.
He said the R175 million spent over two years represents not only a cost to the State but also an opportunity to reconsider how resources are deployed, arguing that where “migrants meet the requirements for lawful residence, regularisation could shift them from an enforcement cost to economically active residents who can work legally, pay taxes and contribute to the economy.”
The debate comes as South Africa continues to grapple with pressure over undocumented migration, with the government facing demands to strengthen immigration enforcement while migrant rights organisations continue calling for policies that distinguish between immigration violations and broader questions of service delivery.
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