Herman Mashaba Reiterates Call for Undocumented Migrants To Leave South Africa
- ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba once again pushed his message that undocumented migrants must return to their home countries
- Mashaba introduced the party's mayoral candidate for the Nkangala district, Mary Phadi
- The ActionSA leader argues that undocumented foreign nationals place extra strain on basic service delivery
Nerissa Naidoo, a journalist at Briefly News since 2024, previously worked as an editor, content creator, researcher, and ghostwriter before joining the team.
Source: Instagram
MPUMALANGA, EMALAHLENI - ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba took his campaign message to eMalahleni in Mpumalanga on 26 April 2026. Here, he addressed party supporters and introduced Mary Phadi as the party's mayoral candidate for the Nkangala district. True to form, Mashaba used the platform to repeat his well-known position on illegal migration, saying undocumented foreigners are not welcome in South Africa. He said that the issue continues to hurt the people he describes as the forgotten South Africans.
Mashaba stands firm on migration
Mashaba has made illegal immigration one of ActionSA's central issues going into the 2026 local government elections, and his message has not changed. He says the presence of undocumented migrants puts too much pressure on already stretched services like housing, water, electricity, and healthcare, leaving ordinary South Africans worse off.
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During earlier community visits in Gauteng, including a stop in Ward 91 in Wynberg, Mashaba told supporters he could not understand how anyone could expect the country to accommodate people without documents. This is especially when unemployment sits at 42%, and cities are already overcrowded. He was quick to add that ActionSA has no issue with legal immigrants who follow the rules and contribute to the country, but draws a firm line at those who enter and stay without proper documentation.
View the Instagram clip of his earlier statement here.
What is ActionSA promising?
As ActionSA's mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Mashaba has made a series of commitments around immigration enforcement if the party wins at the local level. These include removing undocumented people from hijacked buildings in the inner city, ensuring that trading permits and business opportunities go to South Africans and legal permanent residents first, and working closely with SAPS and the Department of Home Affairs to speed up identification and deportation processes.
In March 2026, Mashaba also backed a large march in Durban calling for mass deportations, an event that drew people and showed the growing appetite among some communities for tougher action on the issue.
Source: Instagram
Other immigration stories
A woman went viral after a video showed her verbally attacking KwaZulu-Natal SAPS spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda. The incident was widely condemned as a xenophobic incident, with police and the public calling for consequences.
Congolese actor Joe Kazadi spoke openly about the mental health toll of living and working in South Africa as a migrant. He touched on isolation and xenophobia in a way that got people talking about a side of immigration rarely discussed.
Robert Mugabe's youngest son found himself at the centre of a deportation storm after authorities confirmed he had been living in South Africa without valid documents. This raised hard questions about how the immigration system is enforced.
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Source: Briefly News
