South Africa is home to as many as 10 million illegal immigrants and must brace for a flood of new arrivals as its booming economy leaves poorer neighbouring nations behind, according to an employment report published on Thursday.
The study, commissioned by the UASA trade union, said projects linked to South Africa's hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup would provide incentives for new illegal immigrants to the country of 45 million people.
"It's definitely a staggering number and more are bound to cross the borders, attracted by the prospects of 2010 and beyond," said economist Mike Schussler of financial services group T-Sec who wrote the report.
"An average South African is six times better off than an average Zimbwean and twenty times better off than an Malawian, so that draws people," he told a news conference.
But Schussler said the widespread view in South Africa that illegal immigrants took jobs away from locals was overstated, with research indicating that one in five immigrants created their own job in a boost for the national economy.
"Yes, some of them are involved in criminal activities. But South Africa has also attracted skilled immigrants as well, some start their own informal businesses and are not as much of a burden to the social system as believed."