Having no one to deliver 60/60 to the middle class is not as big a crisis as having poor South Africans wake up at 4am just to be number 107 at a local clinic.
Let's get our priorities straight.
To every South African that has been preaching how xenophobic we are. Your ignorance comes at a price, we don’t benefit from having foreigners in our country, we are running at a deficit. The money meant to grow our economy is flowing out of our borders.Every year, South Africa watches billions of rands leave its borders. Between 2016 and 2024 alone, over R112.6 billion was remitted from South Africa to SADC countries. R19.3 billion left in 2024 alone, with Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi accounting for 90% of all payments. Zimbabwe received R47.2 billion between 2020 and 2024. And these are only the formal, recorded flows, an estimated R3.5 billion more moves informally, often through unregulated channels. Meanwhile, the World Bank reports that Africa received 19.8 billion, Ghana 3.0 billion, Uganda $1.49 billion.
These remittances are not investments in South Africa. They are not building our roads, funding our schools, or creating jobs for our youth. They are extracted wealth earned here, sent home. And they are enough to build entire nations. Nigeria's $19.8 billion could fund universal healthcare. Zimbabwe's $3 billion could rebuild its education system. But instead, the money flows out, and the burden of housing, feeding, and healthcare for those who send it remains on South African taxpayers.
Foreign nationals in South Africa often work in low-wage sectors, undercutting local workers, while sending the bulk of their earnings back home. The South Africa to Malawi corridor is among the most expensive in the region, with costs exceeding 17%. South Africa's migrants are paying an average of 19.4% to send $200 to Malawi, making it the costliest corridor in the region. Yet even at these prices, billions flow out.
This is why we are called xenophobic. Not because we hate foreigners. Because we are being used. We are being bled dry. Our infrastructure crumbles while their economies grow on our backs. We are not a country, we are a cash cow. The remittances that leave our borders could build hospitals in Harare, schools in Lilongwe, roads in Maputo. Instead, we are left with the cost of overcrowded clinics, under-resourced schools, and communities that feel abandoned by their own government.
We are not xenophobic. We are tired. We are tired of being the continent's ATM, tired of carrying burdens that are not ours, tired of being called hateful while they send their billions home and leave us with the scraps.
It is time for South Africa to ask, how much longer will we be the engine that powers other nations while our own people suffer? Enough. The billions must stay. The borders must be secured. And our people must come first. 🇿🇦✊🏾
Ghana has been quietly carrying out deportation drives and the media has been quiet…….In Ghana it’s called immigration crackdown while in South Africa it’s called Xenophobia.
Dear Home Affairs employees, do you see what you’ve done? All for a bribe. The country is burning because of corruption, and your actions have played a part in it.
Hi, are you going to update this with the police report that the owner of this vehicle and two others (now in custody) fired shots at passing protesters, injuring two people (including 17y/o) or does that not fit your agenda?