Afrobarometer Briefing Paper No. 112 
 
Citizens Perception on Migration in South Africa 
 
by Mandela Mataure  
 
 
February 2013 
 
Background 
The Afrobarometer has been tracking public attitudes towards foreigners resident in South Africa 
since 2008 because of a vigorous public debate on immigration controls, attacks on foreigners from 
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other African states and accusations of xenophobia. This bulletin reports response to the questions 
asked in Afrobarometer Round 5 which explores these attitudes as well as drawing public perception 
on this issue from the 2008 survey for comparison purposes.  
 
Insights into how South Africans feel about migrants, the extent to which they might resist the 
entrance of migrants into their work and living spaces, and the extent to which they welcome migrants 
as potential new citizens are presented.  
 
The Survey  
During Round 5, the Afrobarometer surveys will be conducted in up to 35 countries in Africa, using a 
common survey instrument and methodology. The findings reported here draw from a recent survey 
in South Africa conducted between October and November 2011. This is the sixth Afrobarometer 
survey conducted in South Africa (others were conducted in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008). The 
survey was based on a nationally representative random sample of 2400 adult South Africans drawn 
from all nine provinces of the country. The findings reported here have a margin of sampling error of 
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+/- 2% at a 95% confidence level. Fieldwork was conducted by Citizens Surveys Ltd, with technical 
support from the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA).  
 
All the figures presented below are rounded off percentages (%) so may not necessarily equal 100% 
when totalled. 
 
Attitudes towards Migration (2008) 
In 2008 the Afrobarometer asked South Africans whether the government should place restrictions on 
foreigners. This question was not repeated in 2011 but provides a starting point for analysis of the 
recent results. Figure 1 records that 40% of respondents reported that there should be strict restrictions 
placed on foreigners seeking to enter the country and 24% of South Africans felt that foreigners 
should be completely prohibited from entering South Africa.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
1
 Mattes, R., Taylor D.M., McDonald, D.D., Poore, A., and Richmond, W., 1999. Still Waiting for the 
Barbarians. SA Attitudes towards Immigrants and Immigration. Migration Policy Series No. 14., 1. 
 
2
 The margin of error decreases as the sample size increases. All analyses of migration characteristics are on a 
small sub-sample. But, all differences highlighted herein are statistically significant at a 95%confidence level 
(or higher) unless otherwise noted.   
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How about people from other countries coming to South Africa? Which of the following do you think 
the government should do? 
 
Despite the fact that South Africa has agreed to international protocols on the reception and protection 
of asylum seekers, ordinary South Africans are divided on the issue of whether foreigners should be 
protected in South Africa.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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For each of the following statements, please tell me whether you disagree or agree?  
People who are persecuted for political reasons in their own countries deserve protection in South 
Africa. 
 
Figure 2 shows that more South Africans (44%) disagree with the idea of providing protection to 
asylum seekers in South Africa against 38% who feel that foreigners who are persecuted in their home 
countries should be allowed to seek protection in South Africa.  
 
Afrobarometer also asked a series of questions about foreigners more generally ± i.e., not just asylum 
seekers and refugees, but all types of potential immigrants to the country 
 
 
 
For each of the following statements, please tell me whether you disagree or agree?  
Foreigners should not be allowed to live in South Africa because they take jobs and benefits away 
from South Africans 
 
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Figure 3 above shows 45% of respondents who agree that foreigners should not be allowed to live in 
South Africa as they take away jobs and benefits and this leads to job competition between them and 
South African citizens. This stands against 39% who believe that they be allowed to live in South 
Africa.  
 
Action Taken Against Foreigners (2008-2011)  
Whilst in 2008 the survey offered four possible scenarios in which South Africans may make contact 
with foreigners and asked for their reaction to these scenarios, in 2011 the same question was asked 
with only two scenarios. Figure 4 below lists 2 of those scenarios. While the majority of South 
Africans would accept foreigners, almost a third of people suggested they might take action to prevent 
them from living and operating a business in their areas.  
 
Previous research under the auspices of the Southern Africa Migration Project (SAMP) (in which 
Idasa is a partner) indicates that the attitudes of South Africans towards foreigners are not necessarily 
derived from personal experience but rather from the belief that immigrants weaken society and 
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threaten the nations health and are unable to assimilate. i nto the South African nation
 
Figure 4: Action Taken Against Foreigners (2008-2011) 
How likely is it that you would take part in action to prevent % Likely % Not 
people who have come here from other countries in Africa from to Take Likely to 
doing the following? Action Take Action 
Moving Into Your Neighbourhood 2008 34% 59% 
2011 32% 66% 
Operating a Business In Your Neighbourhood 2008 36% 58% 
2011 36% 62% 
 
Despite the above findings of decreasing trust in immigrants, we also find that tolerance for living and 
working alongside them appears to have increased as well. In 2011, 66% would not prevent foreigners 
from moving into their neighbourhood, compared to 59% in 2008; similarly, 62% would not stop 
foreigners from operating businesses in 2011, compared to 58% in 2008. A third of the surveyed 
respondents would however be willing to take action to prevent these from happening which remains 
essentially unchanged from 2008. In both 2008 and 2011 Afrobarometer specifically asked about 
migrants from other African countries because evidence from other sources suggests that negative 
attitudes towards African migrants are held particularly strongly.  
 
Trust of Foreigners (2008-2011)  
The Round 4 results of the Afrobarometer survey in 2008 found that 60% of respondents stated that 
they have no trust in foreigners at all. In the most recent results from Round 5, trust in foreigners has 
decreased still further, with two-thirds of South African reporting no trust at all in foreigners. 
 
 
                                                           
3
 Mattes, R., Taylor D.M., McDonald, D.D., Poore, A., and Richmond, W., 1999. Still Waiting for the 
Barbarians. SA Attitudes towards Immigrants and Immigration. Migration Policy Series No. 14., 1. 
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How much do you trust each of the following types of people? And what about foreigners living here 
in South Africa   
 
Since this was asked as part of a series of questions on trust in relatives, neighbours and other people 
you know, the findings above clearly indicates high levels of distrust in foreigners when compared to 
the level of distrust South Africans have in other people they know. As popular expectations would 
reveal, large majorities of South Africans (93%) report that they trust their relatives against 6% of the 
surveyed respondents, see Figure 5a.  Similarly, high levels of trust were also reported on neighbours 
with close to nine in ten (86%) reporting their trust and even three quarters (76%) reported trust in 
other people they know. However, distinctively, foreigners are less trusted with only 32% of South 
Africans trusting people from outside their borders.  
 
Figure 5a (2011)  
100%
93% 
86% 
90%
76% 
80%
67% 
70%
60%
50%
40%32% 
30%23% 
20%14% 
6% 
10%
0%
Trust in NeighboursTrust in RelativesTrust in Other PeopleTrust in Foreigners
you Know
Just a little, Somewhat, A lotNot at all
 
 
Migration and Citizenship 
In Round 5, Afrobarometer also probed citizen attitudes toward immigrants in a series of questions 
about citizenship and naturalisation.  Attitudes on this topic are very mixed.  Whilst 77% believe that 
if a person born in South Africa and has one South African parent and one non-south African parent 
should have the right to become a citizen of the country, 21% disagreed with this perception.  
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58% believe that if a person is born in South Africa and from two non-citizen parents, they should 
nonetheless do have a right to become a citizen themselves.  
 
An even higher 62% believe that if a woman has a husband who is a citizen, then she should also be 
entitled to become a South African citizen.  But the same does not hold for the foreign husbands of 
South African women as 48% hold the same view to the question of whether a man should be entitled 
to South African citizenship if his wife is a citizen.   
 
The survey reveals a narrow margin on perception of citizenship for persons that will have lived and 
worked in South Africa, i.e. 50% for citizenship and 46% against it.   
 
Finally, there are strong feelings that a person should not have the right to hold dual citizenship as 
reported by 71% of the surveyed respondents. Dual citizenship would mean that such a person would 
have the right to hold a South African passport and be eligible to vote if they are above 18 years of 
age not only in their home country but also in South Africa. 
 
 
In your opinion, which of the following people have a right to be a citizen of South Africa? A citizen 
would have the right to get a South African passport and to vote in South African elections if they are 
at least 18 years old. 
 
 
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In your opinion, which of the following people have a right to be a citizen of South Africa? A citizen 
would have the right to get a South African passport and to vote in South African elections if they are 
at least 18 years old. 
 
The survey also assessed the South African government¶s performance Theon  handling migration. 
government scored poorly on managing migration with close to two thirds (63%) reporting that the 
government had failed to manage migration well, against one third (33%) who thinks otherwise.  
 
 
How well or badly would you say the current government is handling the following matter, or havent 
you heard enough to say? 
This rating, together with the strong feelings expressed in relation to foreigners, may suggest some 
motivation for attacks on foreigners as local people take the law into their own hands. The results 
outlined in this bulletin suggest that South Africa remains fertile ground for those who would use 
xenophobia to mobilise popular political support or local riots for commercial gain. 
 
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The Afrobarometer is produced collaboratively by social scientists from more than 30 African 
countries. Coordination is provided by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the 
Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa), the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), 
University of Nairobi, and the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy (IREEP) in 
Benin. Survey implementation in Uganda, including preparations, data collection and management 
and overall project coordination, was undertaken by Wilsken Agencies, Ltd. We gratefully 
acknowledge generous support from the UK¶s Department for International Development (DfID), the 
Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), and the United 
States Agency for International Development (USAID) for support on Afrobarometer Round 5. For 
more information and further requests for analysis please visit Afrobarometer website: 
www.afrobarometer.org or contact Anyway Chingwete, AB Project Manager,  

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