TalkAfrica confirmed the number of foreign nationals living in South Africa is 2.4 million. 

An X post claiming 27 million as the estimated number of foreign nationals living in South Africa is FALSE. 

On 15 July 2025, X user @Lerato Pillay posted that “The estimated number of foreign nationals in SA is 27 million.” 

Another X user, Yaya_Libram, also posted the number of foreigners in South Africa by country, and estimated the total number of foreigners to be 27 million. The claim alleges that the data on the claim was obtained from the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (Rica) RICA’d cellphone SIM cards. 

RICA-registered SIM cards are not a supported method for collecting data on immigration status, and thousands of cell phone SIM cards are reportedly registered fraudulently. MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, and Telkom SIM cards already Rica-registered are easily accessible through Rica agents without proof of identity or residence as required by the law. These agents are legitimate resellers, selling on behalf of the service providers in South Africa and operating from informal stores or spaza shops and street corners. Most of the 165 million SIM cards issued annually in South Africa are likely noncompliant with Rica. 

According to Statistics South Africa, South Africa’s immigrant population has seen a steady rise over the past few decades, increasing from 2.1% of the total population in 1996 to 3.9% in 2022. By 2022, the number of immigrants in the country had reached 2.4 million, with women making up just over one million of that total. Data Commons indicates the population in South Africa was 64,007,187 in 2024.

On 27 August 2025, the official government X account managed by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) responded to an X user, Simon Sithole, who asked, “How many illegal immigrants do we have in the country🇿🇦? @StatsSA Can you estimate at least?? @GovernmentZA. How do you provide services for the number of people you do not know? @CyrilRamaphosa @MbalulaFikile?”

GCIS said, “The 2022 Census counted approximately 2.4 million foreign-born residents, a broader estimate from Stats SA’s mid-year population data indicates that around 3.95 million foreign-born individuals were living in the country”. Page seven of Migration Profile Report For South Africa, a country profile 2023, suggests that there were an estimated 2,418,197 international migrants in South Africa; the percentage share of immigrants to the total population decreased from 4,2% to 3,9% between 2011 and 2022.

News24 also debunked the claim that there are 27 million foreigners in South Africa and found it to be false. 

As the 2026 local government elections are approaching, politicians and vigilante groups like Operation Dudula have been blaming foreigners for the unemployment and hunger of the locals. The International Criminal Justice (ICJ), through the Scalabrini Centre for Human Mobility in Africa, states that “As the 2026 elections loom, political leaders must resist populist scapegoating and confront the deeper structural failures that fuel public discontent.”

TalkAfrica examined the X post claiming that there are 27 million foreign nationals in South Africa and found it to be FALSE.