Note to editors: The following speech was delivered in Parliament today by the DA’s Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Hannif Hoosen MP, during the Budget Vote on Home Affairs.
I would like to start by congratulating the Honourable Minister on her recent appointment.
I am encouraged by the attitude from the new Minister, especially her regular attendance at the portfolio committee meetings, which is certainly a positive change compared to her predecessor.
Chairperson,
This department must be given credit for some of the good work that has been done. The rollout of 6 million smart ID cards in four years and the quick turnaround times with passport applications are impressive achievements.
Most people have forgotten that it used to take several weeks to get a passport. It is now possible that you could receive one in a week.
While there is little doubt that we are making progress, there is still much more to achieve.
We must not forget that today more than 9 million South Africans are without a decent job and have little hope for the future.
This department has a critical role to play in turning that around.
With the ease of travel, billions of people are looking for new opportunities to work, live and play. Countries all over the world are working hard to be at the forefront of this opportunity and make it more attractive, for those with skills and capital to enter their shores.
If we want to grow our economy and reduce unemployment, we too must exploit these opportunities, through our immigration system.
But Honourable Chairperson, our immigration system is broken.
There are many people who enter our country legally every year and play by the rules, but there are also many who have no respect for our rules.
Most businesses respect our laws and pay their workers a proper wage, but they also forced to watch others exploit these rules as they pay undocumented immigrants low wages.
For far too long we have heard of stories about people who simply walk across our borders.
Nobody in Home Affairs can tell you how many million undocumented immigrants are living in our country.
We need an immigration system that is fair, effective and one that contributes to growing our economy and creating jobs.
We need a system where everyone contributes and one that treats people with the respect and dignity that they deserve.
I want to present the DA’s plan to turn this around and appeal to the Minister to give careful consideration to these proposals.
The first thing we must do, is fix our borders. We must fix our fence.
If we don’t, we will never solve the problem of the high number of undocumented immigrants in the country.
Businesses who break the rules and employ undocumented immigrants must be dealt with harshly. They destroy our economy.
Tracking down and deporting an unknown number of undocumented immigrants will cost us far too much. It costs millions each year for deportation and this is no longer sustainable.
This is why, we are calling on the Minister to find innovative ways to regularise undocumented immigrants. Let us allow them to come forward and regularise themselves and play by the rules. This will save us millions that can re-directed towards more sustainable programmes.
While most countries are rolling out the red carpet, we are rolling out the red tape.
We have to make it easier for those who are willing to play by the rules to enter, live, work and play in our beautiful country.
We have to make it more difficult for those who cross our borders illegally and don’t play by the rules.
And we must fix our fence.
Through our immigration programme, we CAN make a meaningful contribution towards the NDPs aim of finding work for the 9 million unemployed South Africans,
We can achieve this objective by creating a user friendly and attractive visa regime.
If we make it easier for people to invest in SA, we will contribute to that objective.
But sadly, Immigration Affairs is still the worst funded programme in Home Affairs and as a result, we are not taking job creation seriously.
We all know, that our country is experiencing a period of slow growth and declining foreign investments.
If we want to address the crisis of 9 million unemployed South Africans, then home affairs must simplify our visa regime to attract foreign investment, so that it is easier for companies to set up shop here, which will lead to job creation.
But we are doing the opposite.
In 2014, the former Home Affairs Minister and the current Finance Minister introduced disastrous new immigration regulations and increased the minimum amount for a business visa to R5 million.
The DA warned him then that this decision would have a devastating effect and would create an additional barrier to foreign investors to enter the South African Market.
But he did not take this seriously and continued to argue for a higher entry-level investment.
Honourable Chairperson, the evidence is now before us that we were correct.
In the whole of 2016, not a single business visa was approved by Home Affairs for new start-up businesses. By comparison, a country like Mauritius has attracted scores of new foreign owned businesses.
It is clear from this that the Department is not succeeding in making South Africa an attractive destination for investment.
We need a different approach if we want to achieve different outcomes.
We therefore call on the new Minister today, to introduce a sliding scale where both large and small investors can be attracted to our shores.
We must make provisions for a small business visa.
We know that there are thousands of foreigners operating small businesses illegally in South Africa, because our visa regime makes it impossible for them to operate legally.
If we create an environment for small business to thrive, it will have a direct impact on job creation and regularise the millions of undocumented immigrants who are already in the country.
There is an opportunity here that we are not exploring.
But not all undocumented foreigners are entrepreneurs.
Many of them work illegally in the country without proper permits, because of our inability to protect our borders.
You no longer need to jump a fence, there is no fence.
We must fix that fence.
For too long we invested poorly in the number of Immigration Officers, whose job it is to seek out and deport illegal immigrants.
We have fewer than 800 immigration officers in the entire country but a city like London has almost 3600.
The DA has repeatedly called for a greater investment in this department for several years now.
More immigration officers will result in fewer undocumented immigrants and this would increase demand for unskilled labour in South Africa.
I invite the new Minister to offer a commitment to address these weaknesses.
Honourable Chairperson, a few days ago, the ANC attempted to use its declining majority to force through the Border Management Authority Bill (BMA) in the house.
To their huge embarrassment, it failed to achieve the required numbers.
We can hardly afford to fill the vacancies in Home affairs and yet we are experimenting with faulty ideas that make absolutely no sense.
The introduction of the BMA will double the number of staff in Home Affairs yet Treasury has put a moratorium on new appointments. Because we simply cannot afford it.
What is required is a more effective use of our current resources, a reduction in unnecessary spending in the department, and an increased investment in Immigration Affairs.
The estimated cost of the BMA is almost R22bn, something that we cannot afford at this time in our country. Let’s rather focus on fixing our fence.
Honourable Chairperson,
Recently, a culture of mediocrity is creeping in at front line offices across the country. More South African’s are becoming increasingly frustrated with the unprofessional service from some staff and security guards.
While the majority are hard working professionals, a hand full of staff continue to give this department a bad reputation.
The people of South Africa are our customers and we need to start treating them with the respect that they deserve.
As I conclude, I recognise that we have made some good progress, but there have been some poor decisions and poor spending patterns.
But this won’t be for too long. More and more South Africans are becoming increasingly annoyed with the state of governance, mediocrity and corruption in our country.
It is only a matter of time till South Africa ushers in a new government. This one is already on its way out. South Africans and the world are already preparing for life after the ANC.
And when that happens we will make sure that everything we do will be in the best interest of our shared futures and the people of our country.