South Africa migration crisis: Ramaphosa's plan faces doubt

"I moved to Southern Africa because of their infrastructure," Fifi, a 21-year-old Ghanaian footballer who plays for Bucks Buccaneers in the Namibia Premier League, told DW. After the football season ended, he was in South Africa on holiday when he was caught up in the anti-immigrant protests. Fifi was among a group of Ghanaians who were recently repatriated to Ghana from South Africa.

South Africa has long been a destination for migrants across Africa . It offers many economic opportunities and relative political stability. It is no wonder that South Africa hosts one of the largest migrant populations on the African continent .

According to Stats SA, the national statistical agency of South Africa, an estimated 3.3 million immigrants live in the country. That's about 5.1% of the population of 65 million. Other estimates, including undocumented migrants, place the figure significantly higher.

Data show that most migrants in South Africa come from the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Under SADC rules, citizens of member states can stay in South Africa visa-free for a maximum of 90 days. But ensuring that visitors leave after 90 days is one of the key triggers of recent anti-migrant protests.

"Earlier on in the 90s, you would have people fleeing wars, the civil war in Mozambique , and coming into South Africa," Fredson Guilengue, a project manager at the left-wing Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Johannesburg, told DW. "But later on, because of the situation in Zimbabwe, you had a significant number coming from Zimbabwe to South Africa. And in the last decade, people fleeing conflicts in the DRC , but also economic immigrants."

South Africa's mining sector and industrial economy have relied on migrant labor for decades, creating well-established migration routes across the region.

Migration patterns have evolved, according to Ongama Mtimka, acting director at the Raymond Mhlaba Centre for Governance and Leadership at Nelson Mandela University. "The trend in the last 15 years has been the migration for settlement in South Africa." Many of the migrants are now settling, building families, and becoming a more permanent feature in the country.

Stats SA's recent data shows that most migrants settle in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape. These migrants tend to settle where economic opportunity presents itself. But increasing anti-migrant sentiment has brought the issue to the fore.