South Africa: South Africa Did Not Spend R17 Billion On Deportations in Two Years - Error Still Circulating Despite Corrected News Article

Social media posts from September 2026 spread the false claim that South Africa spent R17 billion on deporting migrants over the past two financial years. The origin of this claim was a news article from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) that has since been corrected. The South African Home Affairs department clarified the figure to be R175 million, not R17 billion.

The government spent R17 billion on deporting undocumented migrants in two financial years, according to parliamentary responses. The misinformation began circulating after a surge in anti-migrant sentiment and demonstrations in South Africa the previous year. In response to questions from member of parliament Liezl van der Merwe, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber stated that 111,464 people were deported in 2024/25 and 2025/26 combined, with a total cost of R175,149,080.34.

The SABC mistakenly reported the total expenditure as R17 billion, likely due to an error in interpreting the figure. The department and Schreiber's party, the Democratic Alliance, quickly issued corrections to the SABC's incorrect report. Despite the correction, the erroneous claim continued to circulate, generating engagement on social media.