South Africa's immigration debate: Political responses to Ramaphosa's address

Leader of ActionSA, Herman Mashaba, says Ramaphosa merely repeated policies that had failed for decades.

South Africa’s political parties have delivered sharply contrasting reactions to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national address on illegal immigration, exposing deep divisions over how the country should tackle migration, border security, unemployment and rising tensions involving foreign nationals.

Opposition party ActionSA dismissed the President’s intervention as inadequate and accused the government of failing to confront what it describes as an escalating immigration crisis.

In a statement on Sunday, ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said Ramaphosa had merely repeated policies that had failed for decades.

"Rather than presenting a clear shift in approach, which we believe must anchor on mass deportations and the urgent capacitation of enforcement capacity, the President merely repackaged the same failed and tired talking points that have characterised the ANC’s decades-long failure to secure South Africa’s borders and effectively address illegal immigration," Mashaba said.