Minister: No CLUE how many undocumented immigrants are in SA
At a media briefing this weekend, the Home Affairs Minister admitted he has no idea how many undocumented immigrants are in SA.
Government has no idea how many undocumented immigrants are in SA. This was the shocking revelation from Aaron Motsoaledi, the Minister of Home Affairs this past weekend.
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Following news last week that protection of Zimbabwean Exemption Permits had been dismissed in High Court, there is to be a new White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration, and Refugee Protection.
HOW MANY UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE IN SOUTH AFRICA?
During this briefing with the media, EWN reports that the department said it cannot account for how undocumented immigrants are in SA. This, of course, poses many difficulties for the Department of Home Affairs (DHA).
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According to the last available figures on Statista from 2015, the number of undocumented immigrants in SA ranges between 8 and 10 million. This is a huge figure which is probably significantly higher today.
BORDER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
Sunday’s briefing to media was part of government’s new White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration, and Refugee Protection. The minister said the establishment of the Border Management Authority (BMA) main goal was to help account for undocumented migrants in SA.
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Earlier in the week, Cabinet approved the publication of the BMA draft policy for public comment. “South Africa today is a great place to live in. However, no one can account for all the undocumented immigrants. The Department of Home Affairs has no idea as to how many illegal immigrants are in South Africa. There is simply no mechanism of knowing,” the minister said.
NOT GOING TO STOP PEOPLE COMING IN
The minister said people like to assume the BMA is there stop people from coming into South Africa. However, its main purpose is to stop people coming into the country illegally, he clarified. Roughly 15 000 undocumented immigrants are ferried back over the border each year. He added that this comes at great cost financially to the country.
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