{"id":36129,"date":"2026-06-03T09:33:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=36129"},"modified":"2026-06-03T09:33:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:33:49","slug":"sa-president-warns-illegal-immigration-strains-public-services","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-president-warns-illegal-immigration-strains-public-services\/","title":{"rendered":"SA President warns illegal immigration strains public services"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">South African (SA) President Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated the need to tackle illegal immigration in SA, warning that it places increasing pressure on public services and hampers efforts to create jobs for citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">Addressing Parliament during the Presidency Budget Vote debate in Cape Town, Western Cape, Ramaphosa said migration, when properly managed and regulated, can contribute positively to economic growth and development.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Ramaphosa&#8217;s remarks come as anti-migrant protests in SA are intensifying, with some civic groups calling for all undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country by 30 June.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">The issue of illegal immigration has become increasingly contentious in SA, amid concerns over pressure on public services, competition for jobs, and crime.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;As we work to build a safer, more stable and more prosperous society, we do need to address the challenge of migration when it is well managed and regulated, migration can help to drive economic growth and opportunity for all. However, we need to deal with illegal migration. We have seen how illegal immigration into our country can put pressure on our public services and undermine our efforts to create decent work for all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">&#8211;Channel Africa&#8211;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15585,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-36129","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Ramaphosa has reiterated the need to tackle illegal immigration","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36130,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36129\/revisions\/36130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=36129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}