There comes a point in the life of a nation when government should stop talking and start listening. There comes a point when the frustrations of citizens can no longer be dismissed as political noise, xenophobia, misinformation or populism.
Those who are entrusted with governing a country should look South Africans in the eye and admit that there is anger and frustration that has engulfed our communities.
They are angry about unemployment. They are angry about poverty, crime, failing municipalities and endemic corruption. All this happens with a government that is evidently incapable of enforcing its own laws. In this sea of problems and chronic neglect is a failure to manage illegal immigration.
If you are in South Africa illegally, you cannot expect the country simply to accept your unlawful presence indefinitely.
Illegal immigrants must leave South Africa. This is not hatred of foreigners. It is not a rejection of legitimate refugees. It is not a rejection of legal immigration.
It is a demand for sovereignty, lawful migration and accountability.
The government itself has acknowledged the scale of the problem. Since June, it has announced tens of thousands of repatriations and deportations of undocumented foreign nationals. Government has also reported that more than 4,200 undocumented foreign nationals were intercepted attempting to enter the country outside formal ports of entry between April and July, while almost 90,000 people were repatriated.
Ramaphosa himself announced in June that the government would intensify the identification and deportation of undocumented foreign nationals and strengthen inspections of companies employing them. He also said that the Border Management Authority had intercepted more than 450,000 people attempting to enter South Africa illegally over the preceding year.
So the government knows there is a problem. The question is why does it continue to look surprised when South Africans demand action?
South Africa’s unemployment rate was 43.6% in the second quarter of 2026, with over 12 million people officially unemployed. The expanded definition of unemployment, this is the highest sustained unemployment rate in the world.
These are not abstract numbers. Behind every statistic is a South African who wants a job. A young person who has studied but cannot find employment. A mother who cannot put enough food on the table. A father who has been looking for work for years. A graduate whose qualifications have not translated into an opportunity.
And yet we continue to have a national conversation in which South Africans are repeatedly told to be patient while government struggles to control the country’s borders and immigration system.
How does that make sense? How can a government that is struggling to provide adequately for millions of its own citizens continue allowing an immigration system that is so poorly controlled that illegal entry becomes possible on such a scale?
South Africans are taxpayers. They fund the machinery of the state. They pay VAT when they buy food. They pay income tax when they work. They pay fuel levies, rates, duties and other taxes.
And they quite reasonably expect their government to prioritise the needs of the people whose taxes sustain the country. That does not mean denying humanitarian protection to people who qualify for it. But it does mean demanding a functioning system that can distinguish between a genuine asylum seeker, a lawful migrant and somebody who has no legal right to be in South Africa.
The recent Constitutional Court judgment has made this conversation even more urgent.
The Court held that certain procedural barriers in the Refugees Act could prevent people from having their asylum claims properly assessed. It did not give everyone who enters South Africa illegally an automatic right to remain here. It did not automatically confer refugee status or permanent residence.
Government must now demonstrate that it has the capacity and political will to implement the law without allowing the asylum system to become another avenue through which unlawful migration is perpetuated.
On 9 October, the Department of Home Affairs announced that its Director-General had withdrawn a directive concerning the intake of asylum applications after refugee reception offices. Within days, DHA offices were overwhelmed, giving rise to serious concerns on public safety and order.
This is precisely what citizens are watching. A government reacting after the crisis has already arrived instead of anticipating the crisis before it happens. We have seen this movie before.
In 1976, when I was only 16-years-old as a Form 3 learner, the National Party government became profoundly disconnected from the people it governed.
The impetus behind the 1976 Soweto Uprisings was the opposition to the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in Black schools. Students had repeatedly expressed this opposition. On the fateful day of 16 June 1976, thousands of Soweto youth marched in peaceful protest. Police opened fire and many young lives were lost as unrest spread across other townships across the country.
The National Party government believed it could impose its will on a population that had already told it clearly that it did not accept this directive.
It failed to read the room and underestimated the depth of public anger.
When government repeatedly ignores legitimate grievances, public frustration does not simply disappear. It grows.
That is why I was struck by a recent opinion piece by Lebo M titled “Your Vote Matters.” His central message is that democracy requires participation, that citizens must question those in power, demand accountability and refuse to disengage when they are disappointed.
I agree. Citizens must participate. But government must also listen. Because democracy is not merely the right of politicians to govern after an election. It is the obligation of government to remain accountable to the people between elections.
The youth of 1976 demonstrated what can happen when government becomes so disconnected from the people that it refuses to listen until the streets force it to listen.
The answer to a government that fails its citizens is more democratic accountability, stronger institutions and political consequences at the ballot box.
South Africans should not have to beg their government to enforce immigration laws. South Africans should not have to apologise for demanding secure borders.
South Africans should not be labelled hateful and xenophobic simply because they believe that those who have no legal right to remain in this country should leave. South Africans should not have to choose between compassion and sovereignty.
We can uphold the Constitution and put the interests of South African citizens at the center of government policy. What we cannot continue doing is to pretend that the current system is working when millions of South Africans plainly say that it is not.
As Lebo M rightly reminds us, citizenship does not end at the ballot box. My message to this government is therefore simple. Read the room.
South Africa belongs to all who live in it lawfully and not a rehabilitation center for other failed states. South Africans must never be expected to surrender their country, their opportunities, or their future because government has absconded.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: I don’t have a solution for Africa. I have a solution for South Africans.
Our people are tired of being told to wait while their lives become harder. They want jobs, safety, dignity, functioning services and a government that puts them first.
South Africa cannot carry the burdens of the world while neglecting its own people. This is not about hatred. It is about sovereignty, responsibility and putting South Africans first.
The message from our people is clear. Government must stop ignoring it, start listening and start acting.
South Africa belongs to its people, and it is time we put South Africans first.
South Africans Are At Breaking Point With A Government That Cannot Read The Room
There comes a point in the life of a nation when government should stop talking and start listening. There comes a point when the frustrations of citizens can no longer be dismissed as political noise, xenophobia, misinformation or populism.
Those who are entrusted with governing a country should look South Africans in the eye and admit that there is anger and frustration that has engulfed our communities.
They are angry about unemployment. They are angry about poverty, crime, failing municipalities and endemic corruption. All this happens with a government that is evidently incapable of enforcing its own laws. In this sea of problems and chronic neglect is a failure to manage illegal immigration.
If you are in South Africa illegally, you cannot expect the country simply to accept your unlawful presence indefinitely.
Illegal immigrants must leave South Africa. This is not hatred of foreigners. It is not a rejection of legitimate refugees. It is not a rejection of legal immigration.
It is a demand for sovereignty, lawful migration and accountability.
The government itself has acknowledged the scale of the problem. Since June, it has announced tens of thousands of repatriations and deportations of undocumented foreign nationals. Government has also reported that more than 4,200 undocumented foreign nationals were intercepted attempting to enter the country outside formal ports of entry between April and July, while almost 90,000 people were repatriated.
Ramaphosa himself announced in June that the government would intensify the identification and deportation of undocumented foreign nationals and strengthen inspections of companies employing them. He also said that the Border Management Authority had intercepted more than 450,000 people attempting to enter South Africa illegally over the preceding year.
So the government knows there is a problem. The question is why does it continue to look surprised when South Africans demand action?
South Africa’s unemployment rate was 43.6% in the second quarter of 2026, with over 12 million people officially unemployed. The expanded definition of unemployment, this is the highest sustained unemployment rate in the world.
These are not abstract numbers. Behind every statistic is a South African who wants a job. A young person who has studied but cannot find employment. A mother who cannot put enough food on the table. A father who has been looking for work for years. A graduate whose qualifications have not translated into an opportunity.
And yet we continue to have a national conversation in which South Africans are repeatedly told to be patient while government struggles to control the country’s borders and immigration system.
How does that make sense? How can a government that is struggling to provide adequately for millions of its own citizens continue allowing an immigration system that is so poorly controlled that illegal entry becomes possible on such a scale?
South Africans are taxpayers. They fund the machinery of the state. They pay VAT when they buy food. They pay income tax when they work. They pay fuel levies, rates, duties and other taxes.
And they quite reasonably expect their government to prioritise the needs of the people whose taxes sustain the country. That does not mean denying humanitarian protection to people who qualify for it. But it does mean demanding a functioning system that can distinguish between a genuine asylum seeker, a lawful migrant and somebody who has no legal right to be in South Africa.
The recent Constitutional Court judgment has made this conversation even more urgent.
The Court held that certain procedural barriers in the Refugees Act could prevent people from having their asylum claims properly assessed. It did not give everyone who enters South Africa illegally an automatic right to remain here. It did not automatically confer refugee status or permanent residence.
Government must now demonstrate that it has the capacity and political will to implement the law without allowing the asylum system to become another avenue through which unlawful migration is perpetuated.
On 9 October, the Department of Home Affairs announced that its Director-General had withdrawn a directive concerning the intake of asylum applications after refugee reception offices. Within days, DHA offices were overwhelmed, giving rise to serious concerns on public safety and order.
This is precisely what citizens are watching. A government reacting after the crisis has already arrived instead of anticipating the crisis before it happens. We have seen this movie before.
In 1976, when I was only 16-years-old as a Form 3 learner, the National Party government became profoundly disconnected from the people it governed.
The impetus behind the 1976 Soweto Uprisings was the opposition to the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in Black schools. Students had repeatedly expressed this opposition. On the fateful day of 16 June 1976, thousands of Soweto youth marched in peaceful protest. Police opened fire and many young lives were lost as unrest spread across other townships across the country.
The National Party government believed it could impose its will on a population that had already told it clearly that it did not accept this directive.
It failed to read the room and underestimated the depth of public anger.
When government repeatedly ignores legitimate grievances, public frustration does not simply disappear. It grows.
That is why I was struck by a recent opinion piece by Lebo M titled “Your Vote Matters.” His central message is that democracy requires participation, that citizens must question those in power, demand accountability and refuse to disengage when they are disappointed.
I agree. Citizens must participate. But government must also listen. Because democracy is not merely the right of politicians to govern after an election. It is the obligation of government to remain accountable to the people between elections.
The youth of 1976 demonstrated what can happen when government becomes so disconnected from the people that it refuses to listen until the streets force it to listen.
The answer to a government that fails its citizens is more democratic accountability, stronger institutions and political consequences at the ballot box.
South Africans should not have to beg their government to enforce immigration laws. South Africans should not have to apologise for demanding secure borders.
South Africans should not be labelled hateful and xenophobic simply because they believe that those who have no legal right to remain in this country should leave. South Africans should not have to choose between compassion and sovereignty.
We can uphold the Constitution and put the interests of South African citizens at the center of government policy. What we cannot continue doing is to pretend that the current system is working when millions of South Africans plainly say that it is not.
As Lebo M rightly reminds us, citizenship does not end at the ballot box. My message to this government is therefore simple. Read the room.
South Africa belongs to all who live in it lawfully and not a rehabilitation center for other failed states. South Africans must never be expected to surrender their country, their opportunities, or their future because government has absconded.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: I don’t have a solution for Africa. I have a solution for South Africans.
Our people are tired of being told to wait while their lives become harder. They want jobs, safety, dignity, functioning services and a government that puts them first.
South Africa cannot carry the burdens of the world while neglecting its own people. This is not about hatred. It is about sovereignty, responsibility and putting South Africans first.
The message from our people is clear. Government must stop ignoring it, start listening and start acting.
South Africa belongs to its people, and it is time we put South Africans first.