What would actually happen to South Africa’s economy if undocumented migrants left?
In this CheckPoint conversation, Nkepile Mabuse sits down with analyst and public educator Dr Pali Lehohla for a blunt discussion about migration, business, poverty and economic failure in South Africa.
Lehohla argues that the president’s response to the migration crisis has come too late, after years of delayed national dialogue and unresolved post-1994 economic questions. Nkepile pushes him on why South African business has remained quiet, especially when major companies such as Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank, MTN, Vodacom and Shoprite operate across Africa and could face continental backlash if anti-migrant sentiment deepens.
The conversation moves beyond the border debate. Lehohla examines how South Africa has administered poverty instead of development, how the R350 grant revealed untapped purchasing power, and how corporate profits can grow while poverty remains trapped in the system.
Nkepile presses the central question: if undocumented migrants left, would the economy fundamentally change? Lehohla says no. The real crisis, he argues, is
broken economic policy, a weakened skills system, infrastructure decay and a country that has failed to become the engine of development it could have been.
This is a sharp, provocative episode about migration, capital, policy and the danger of blaming people for a system that was already broken.
Catch up on all CheckPoint Podcast episodes here: https://www.enca.com/checkpoint-podcast-0
