In a special national address earlier this month, the president warned that no individual or group had the right to demand proof of nationality from people in public spaces and said government would act against them.
“There is no space for xenophobia, racism, sexism, Afrophobia or any other forms of intolerance in South Africa,” he said, explaining his coalition government’s five-point strategy to deal with the crisis.
These include refusing asylum claims from people who had travelled through other “safe” countries, the introduction of a quota for the naturalisation of citizens and extending the reach of digital IDs to non-citizens.
There will also be jail terms for employers who give low-paying jobs to undocumented migrants.
“You find an immigrant being employed in jobs that a South African will ordinarily not accept, or that pays less than what the government demands, because one, they’re desperate, two, they’re open to abuse in being short changed,” analyst Prof Shepherd Mpofu told the BBC.
Ramaphosa said efforts would also be made to crack down on corruption within the system.
A 36-year-old Malawian woman in Johannesburg, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, told the BBC that she came to South Africa on a visitor’s visa and had been bribing border officials to stamp her passport for a fee every couple of months without crossing the border.
“I have decided to go back home for a while and close down my hair salon because of threats,” she said, explaining that she feared for her young children’s safety.