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

14 September 2026
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Kirsten Cosser

South Africa did not spend R17 billion on deportations in two years - error still circulating despite corrected news article

IN SHORT: Several social media posts from September 2026 claim that the South African government spent R17 billion on deportations of migrants in the past two financial years. The claim originated from a news article that has since been corrected. The home affairs department has also clarified that the figure stands at R175 million, not R17 billion.

The South African government spent R17 billion on deportations of "undocumented migrants" in two financial years. That's according to several social media posts attributing the statement to the country's home affairs minister, Leon Schreiber.

This claim began circulating on Facebook in early September 2026, following a spike in anti-migrant sentiment and demonstrations in parts of the country that left many foreign-born people displaced.

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In a parliamentary question weeks earlier, member of parliament Liezl van der Merwe asked Schreiber how many migrants had been deported, at what total cost, and to which countries over the past two years.

In an official reply, the minister said 111,464 people had been deported in 2024/25 and 2025/26 combined. The total cost was reported as:

  • 2024/2025 - R101 773 704.72
  • 2025/2026 - R 73 375 375.62

According to the reply, this amounts to R175 149 080.34 in total over the two financial years.

Error in article leads to circulation of exaggerated figure

In a news article from 7 September 2026, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported that Schreiber had put the government's total spending for the past two financial years at R17 billion. They attributed the figure to the same parliamentary response.

It appears that this was an error in interpreting the number R175 149 080.34.

If the decimal point were removed, this would read R17 billion, a massive exaggeration of the actual amount.

The same day the article was published, the Department of Home Affairs corrected the SABC on the figure. In a media release on 9 September, Schreiber's party, the Democratic Alliance, also disputed the SABC's figure and clarified the actual amount.

The SABC has since corrected its original article and added an editor's note: "This story has been updated to correct the total government expenditure on deporting undocumented migrants over the last two financial years, in accordance with Minister Schreiber's parliamentary response."

In the article, the SABC also clarified that the amount spent was R175 million, and said: "The figure has been revised from an earlier reported R17 billion."

Despite the correction, the error has continued to circulate and generate engagement across Facebook posts.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. X @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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