The speech below was delivered in Parliament today by the DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Haniff Hoosen MP.
South Africa’s declining economic growth, uncontrolled immigration and a growing unemployment rate is a perfect recipe for the sporadic outbreak of xenophobic violence in the country.
This is an indication of built-up frustration over the last ten years in communities who have lost confidence in government’s ability to control the movement of foreigners in and out of the country, in a manner that is fair and contributes to the growth of the economy.
This is why communities take the law into their own hands.
Porous borders, corruption and inefficiencies at ports of entries are the main contributing factors. This uncontrolled inflow of foreign nationals into the country contributes to the levels of growing frustration in communities, especially those with high unemployment rates.
Another contributing factor is government’s inability to reduce the high number of undocumented immigrants already in the country. This is largely because South Africa only has about 700 Immigration Inspectors employed by the Department of Home Affairs. By comparison, a small city like London has more than 300 inspectors whose job it is to seek out undocumented immigrants and deport them.
There are several reports of organised crime syndicates operating within the country, many of whom are mainly undocumented foreign nationals.
During my recent oversight visit to the Beitbridge Border, I witnessed first-hand large tracts of unfenced land where people from Zimbabwe simply walk or drive into the country undetected.
I also observed, at the port of entry, hundreds of Zimbabwean citizens who try to enter the country legally but have to spend an entire day in the queue. Only 2 of the 12 computers are operational. Many more can walk freely across the border, just 1km away from the port of entry to avoid the queues. An attractive incentive for criminal elements.
Some studies suggest that there are as many as five million undocumented immigrants in the country. Even if these numbers are grossly overestimated, the fact that we have no accurate numbers to rebut these figures is a grave concern.
When one considers the average cost of about R1 200 per person in deportation costs, Home Affairs will have to spend a few years of their annual budget on deportation costs to reduce this number. But even this approach is not a lasting solution because within hours of being deported, many simply walk across the border again without detection.
Unless urgent measures are adopted to overhaul border management in SA, these contributing factors will continue to place a massive strain on the country, especially in an environment of such high unemployment.
This is why the DA has offered a number of practical policy proposals to bring some semblance of control in migration.
Our plan is simple and practical:
• Capacitate the police and defence force to secure our borders;
• Put an immediate stop to the corruption that makes South Africans more vulnerable to crime and victimizes legitimate asylum seekers that deserve protection;
• Redirect funds from the protection of politicians to the protection of our borders;
• Introduce efficiency and process travelers within minutes to make our ports of entry more attractive than the “holes in the fence”;
• A points-based system to allocate long-terms visas for highly skilled immigrants to increase the skills base in the country; and
• Introduce less prohibitive Small Business Visas to regularize foreign owned enterprises with a conditional requirement for local labour
Simply put, a DA government will make it as easy as possible for people to entry the country legally and as difficult as possible for people to enter illegally.
These interventions will turn an obstacle into an opportunity, create jobs and grow the economy.
This is why we in the DA has decided to place immigration at the forefront of our election campaign for 2019.
If citizens want to see a change in immigration in South Africa, then they have only one option available to them.
Change the Government.