South African political parties have differed over the reports that the Department of Home Affairs has spent R52 million in enforcing deportations since April this year. Picture: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
The EFF has once again been at the centre of a heated debate regarding the mass deportation of illegal foreign nationals by the Department of Home Affairs.
The party’s stance on the R52 million price tag accrued by the department between April and August 2024 has been met with criticism from the African Transformation Movement (ATM), Patriotic Alliance (PA), and ActionSA.
IOL previously reported that Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber disclosed this in a written Parliamentary reply to a question posed by EFF Member of Parliament (MP) Thapelo Mogale.
The EFF is known to be the voice of foreign nationals with their posture that SA belongs to all Africans.
Mogale further expressed concerns over the “excessive amounts of money” spent on deportations, saying the department’s spending could amount to over R1 billion in five years.
This drew reproval from ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba, who countered the EFF’s condemnation, advocating for stricter deportation processes and emphasising that SA could not “legalise illegality”.
Mashaba proposed a stricter approach to illegal immigration and the deportation processes, saying SA should not hesitate to deport illegal foreigners no matter what the price tag.
“We can’t afford to be a country that legalises illegality and hosts those who break our country’s laws,” he said.
Mashaba’s comments come amidst growing concerns regarding the state of the nation’s immigration policies and their consequences on security and public health.
The party further elaborated in a statement that they were appalled by what they termed the “crisis of illegal immigration”.
They highlighted that approximately R200 million had been spent on deporting undocumented immigrants since 2022, while the number of deportations were around 83 731 in comparison to the previous decade’s annual average of 133 000.
ActionSA chief whip Lerato Ngobeni expressed outrage over this disparity, condemning the government’s failure to effectively secure borders and enforce immigration laws.
“ActionSA is outraged by the escalating crisis of illegal immigration, with an astonishing R200 million wasted on deporting undocumented foreigners since 2022, while a dismal 83 731 have been deported falling drastically short of the previous decade’s average of 133 000 deportations per year.
“This shocking disparity exposes the grim reality of our government’s incompetence in securing our borders and enforcing immigration laws,” Ngobeni said.
In response, ActionSA has demanded the urgent deployment of health inspectors, immigration officials, and SARS agents to conduct thorough investigations of local spaza shops, where many of these tragedies are alleged to have originated.
Schreiber’s calls for deportation gained momentum this week, following a series of food poisoning cases across the country, which have been reported in provinces like KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Gauteng.
This ongoing health crisis, combined with public outcry after recent violent incidents involving foreign nationals, further fuels the debate over immigration policies and practices.
Along with this contentious debate, experts in employment law report that the Department of Home Affairs is stepping up its inspection raids, leading to the arrests of approximately 80 individuals connected to violations of the Immigration Act.
This includes restaurant owners, foreign employees, and human resource practitioners, demonstrating heightened scrutiny in enforcing immigration compliance.
“In complying with obligations from Section 38 of the Immigration Act, employers are required to make a good faith effort to ensure that no foreigner is illegally employed or to determine the status of any foreigner who is employed,” said Employment Law experts.
“Where an illegal foreigner is employed, an employer needs to be alive to how to manage the situation to avoid claims in the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA),” the law firm said.
Speaking to The Star on Tuesday, ATM spokesperson, Zama Ntshona, said it calls for a comprehensive immigration reform.
“The African Transformation Movement (ATM) views the current approach of simply deporting illegal immigrants as a waste of resources and a Band-Aid solution that does not address the root causes of this issue.
“We believe that a comprehensive and holistic approach is needed to effectively deal with illegal immigration in SA…To start with, the department needs to prioritise and address the issue of corruption within its ranks.
“For instance, South Africa has spent over R52 million in just five months to deport more than 19 000 illegal immigrants. This expenditure could have been better allocated to strengthening border management and preventing unauthorised entries rather than merely reacting to the symptoms of a deeper problem.
“Furthermore, we demand that those countries from which illegal immigrants originate must be held accountable and pay back the money spent on deportations,” Ntshona said.
Attempts to get comments from the department were unsuccessful at the time of going to print.
The Star
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