South Africa's Roads Agency Dismisses Claim That '80 Percent of Its Staff Is Foreign Nationals'

South Africa's roads agency dismisses claim that '80% of its staff is foreign nationals'

IN SHORT: Social media posts are claiming that 80% of staff at South Africa's roads agency are "foreign nationals". But Sanral has debunked the claim, saying that of its 784 staff members, only seven are foreign-born. This is less than 1%, not 80% as online posts claim.

A graphic gaining traction on social media in September 2026 claims that "80% SANRAL STAFF IS FOREIGN NATIONALS".

The South African National Roads Agency, or Sanral, is South Africa's government agency tasked with building and maintaining the country's roads.

South Africa has seen a surge in anti-migrant sentiment and demonstrations in some parts of the country in 2026.

Along with these, false claims have spread about foreign-born people, especially those from other African countries, being prioritised in employment or contributing to the country's joblessness crisis.

Sanral in the public eye

The claim first appeared amid a scandal involving a Sanral contractor. On 21 September, news reports circulated about an incident involving Lawrence Mudzinganyama, the then director of Moriel Infrastructure Group, a Zimbabwean-owned company contracted to Sanral. Mudzinganyama had been filmed seemingly threatening to shoot women in a Johannesburg restaurant.

Moriel released a statement severing ties with Mudzinganyama, while transport minister Barbara Creecy directed Sanral's board to investigate the contractor to determine whether it was adhering to its contractual terms.

In the wake of the incident, claims reportedly circulated on social media alleging that Sanral's chief executive is Nigerian, which the entity debunked.

Others claimed that the entity's Gauteng provincial head, who Sanral said is a Zimbabwean-born permanent resident in South Africa, was responsible for appointing the Moriel group as a contractor.

The graphic claiming 80% of Sanral's staff are migrants began circulating in the context of these nationality-based allegations.

But is there any truth to it? We checked.

Sanral explains the figures

While Sanral's annual reporting does not give a breakdown of staff by citizenship, the entity's acting CEO Lehlohonolo Memeza responded directly to the circulating post in a statement on 24 September.

The statement labelled the claim as "absurd and completely baseless".

It quotes him as saying:

"Sanral can confirm that it has a total staff component of 784 members. Of this component, seven are foreign nationals."

The statement went on to explain that "all seven staff members have more than nine years of service at Sanral".

One minor inaccuracy in the media statement should be noted. It said that the seven staff members make up "0.007% of the total staff". But if the total number of staff is 784, this would equal 0.89%.

Even so, the proportion of migrant staff is less than 1% of the total workforce - far from the 80% claimed on social media.

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

South Africa's Roads Agency Dismisses Claim That '80 Percent of Its Staff Is Foreign Nationals'

Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters

Success!

Error!

Error!