While foreigners commit crime in South Africa and must be held accountable, the narrative that they are mainly responsible for criminal activities is clearly xenophobic, simplistic and false. It is not supported by evidence, but a perception which is largely fed by xenophobic sentiments and whipping up of emotions... by vigilantee groups like Dudula led by Zandile Dabula and March and March headed by Zinhle Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma. Dudula and March and March campaigns are largely driven by lack of information, ignorance, exaggerations and falsehoods, as well as scapegoating. While these groups raise real and important issues about illegal immigrants and their activities, they are narrowly stepped in stoking xenophobic hate and scapegoating foreigners rather than helping to resolve genuine issues. More often than not, their facts, information and arguments are wrong. Never backed by evidence. Evidence from the Institute for Security Studies, the Department of Correctional Services, and academic research shows the narrative attributing most crime in South Africa to foreign nationals is unsubstantiated, false and a form of scapegoating. While some foreign nationals are involved in criminal activities, data suggests they are not the primary drivers of the country's high crime rates. Data from the Department of Correctional Services consistently shows the vast majority of prison inmates in South African are locals. Foreign nationals account for approximately 11%–15% of the incarcerated population. Ngobese-Zuma even lies that there are 27 million foreigners in South Africa, meaning almost half the population of the country are foreigners, an obvious lie. Some xenophobic activists like Ike Khumalo claim that there are 100 million people in South Africa due to foreigners, which is also false. Foreigners are between 5%-6% of the population, according to the last census. The last nationwide census in South Africa was conducted in 2022. It began on 2 February 2022 and was the country's first digital one, conducted by Statistics South Africa. It recorded a total population of 62 million people, marking the fourth census of the democratic era. The population was 62,027,503, with 17.8 million households. While the anti-immigrant groups spread ignorance and lies about South Africa's population, the scientific principle is that every person in South Africa on census night is counted regardless of the legal status. A census is conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), typically every 10 years, and aims to count every single person residing within the country's borders on a specific reference night, regardless of whether they are legal or not. The claim that illegal immigrants are not counted is ignorant and false. The most recent census in 2022 was the first-ever 100% digital census, utilising a multi-modal approach. Informed analysis shows that the high rate of crime in South Africa is deeply linked to structural factors, including high unemployment, poverty, inequality, and systemic issues within the police rather than immigrants. No doubt immigrants commit crimes - some of them horrible and unimaginable - but crime is bad no matter who does it. Sometimes criminals both local and foreign collaborate anyway. Official statistics do and must show the role of foreigners in crime, but in the end crime is crime, and must be dealt with in terms of the constitution and the law, not vigilantee and mob rule. Research shows that foreigners are also often victims of crime —including xenophobic violence and extortion, which xenophobes will never mention — than just being perpetrators only. As a result, analysts say blaming foreigners alone is a simplistic distraction from governance failures, institutional corruption and structural issues which are the root cause. The blame-game narrative is often politically motivated, fuelled by xenophobia, mostly used to scapegoat vulnerable immigrants, while not supported by empirical evidence.show more

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