Persistent losses in elections in the past few years is fuelling the government’s growing tough stance on illegal immigration, home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi conceded on Sunday.
In an interview with Business Day on the sidelines of the just-ended ANC policy conference, Motsoaledi said the ANC is feeling the threat of soon losing elections if it does not confront the issue head on.
“That is the international trend. Governments have been overthrown on this issue. We have to act,” Motsoaledi said.
He said the government’s recent efforts to tighten up immigration are also aimed at leadership and to guard against the sporadic xenophobic riots that have been erupting in SA since 2008.
He said the government has to act to avoid more riots engulfing the country, considering the high levels of unemployment and inequality.
“Must we sit back and wait for it to happen, or must we be proactive?” Motsoaledi asked.
The immigration issue is dominating the ANC’s agenda after humiliating losses to opposition parties in last year’s local government elections.
There is a perception in political circles that employers are opting to hire foreign nationals because they accept slave wages at the expense of locals.
Grassroots movements such as Operation Dudula have called on the government to toughen its stance on migration.
Motsoaledi called for the establishment of an interministerial immigration board, which would also include experts so that immigration policy linked to security and labour is better informed.
“With high levels of unemployment one can only suggest the narrative that South Africans are lazy is nonsense ... that employers are hiring foreigners shows that they can be paid slave wages,” Motsoaledi said.
The Financial Mail reported on Friday that the ANC policy conference wants spousal and relative’s visas to be eliminated because the system is being “abused by foreign nationals” to settle in SA.
It proposed that the Immigration Act be tightened to contain fewer visa categories. “There is no basis from the immigration point of view to have a plethora of visas,” the new policy document reads.
It reads the spousal and relative’s visa are “in essence visitor’s visas”.
“There is no rational basis to link marriage and/or [a] form of relationship [relative] to the immigration factors,” the document reads.
It is envisaged in the document that existing laws regarding marriage and children should be sufficient to cover foreigners marrying South Africans, but does not make clear what this means.
“Citizenship laws must be tightened to avoid undeserving foreign nationals becoming SA citizens by default and through fraudulent means and in the process exploit the country for some criminal and underhanded business activities,” a policy recommendation in the document reads.
The party points out that the US, Canada, Switzerland and Britain, as developed countries with more resources than SA, have strict laws governing citizenship, immigration and asylum “to protect the rights of their citizens”.
Giving a report back on discussions on peace and stability on Saturday, David Mahlobo, the former state security minister, said while SA is “not worried about any terror attack”, delegates are concerned about rising global terrorism.
He said SA should not be used as a safe haven by terrorists for the planning and financing of terrorism.
Mahlobo noted progress made with the Border Management Authority (BMA), an entity under the department of home affairs managing the movement of people and goods across SA’s borders and curbing fraud and corruption.
The first cohort of BMA border guards was deployed by Motsoaledi at the Beitbridge port of entry on July 14.
Ramaphosa signed the Border Management Authority Act in July 2020, saying the legislation contributes to the “security of the country and the integrity and ease of trade and the general movement of people and goods in and out of the country”.
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