700 officers track illegal immigrants

Home Affairs has its hands full tracking down hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants across South Africa – with only 700 investigating officers on the case.

Added to this, Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete has admitted that rogue elements within the department were hampering progress as they accepted bribes from foreigners hoping to avoid deportation.

Nosipho Shandu, acting manager for the KZN Home Affairs, said the province had eight entry points for foreigners including King Shaka International Airport and Durban and the Richards Bay harbours.

“Golela (in Zululand bordering Swaziland), Kosi Bay (on the Mozambique border), Onverwacht (on the Swaziland border), Boesmansnek and Sani Park (both bordering Lesotho) are the problem points,” said Shandu.

She said hotspots on these border posts were “Gate 6” and “Gate 8” in the Mkhanyakude District, which bordered Mozambique and Swaziland.

All were in the sights of the newly established Border Management Agency, which reported to the department.

DA spokesman for Home Affairs, Haniff Hoosen, said it was unclear how many of the department’s immigration unit officers were based in KwaZulu-Natal, with the entire complement shared among provinces.

“One can safely say that KZN and Gauteng have very few officers given the number of immigrants in the provinces.

“The recent attacks on immigrants are also proof that these provinces have the highest numbers of immigrants,” said Hoosen.

He said the officers had the power to detain suspected illegal immigrants when seeking proof of their status in the country.

Between 2010 and 2015, Hoosen said, 333 000 documented illegal immigrants were recorded.

“These numbers represent immigrants who disappeared into the country after their visiting visas expired after 30 days. However the total number is believed to be much higher because of thousands whose presence in the country has never been logged.”

Statistics South Africa had previously estimated there were between 500 000 and 1 million undocumented people in the country.

Other researchers had put the figure at twice this.

Hoosen said Home Affairs needed to look at how other countries dealt with the problem.

“In London there are about 3 600 inspectors and yet we have only 700 for a country of more than 50 million. The situation is going to get worse if government does not make a serious investment into the inspectorate (by employing more officers),” said Hoosen.

He said foreigners in the UK and many other countries were obliged to declare their address for their stay, making it easier for inspectors to trace them when their visas expired.

Provincial police said a multi-disciplinary operation over the past weekend involving the army, Home Affairs and metro police, had resulted in the arrest of 68 illegal immigrants.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), an independent human rights organisation, on Tuesday said they saw more than 100 clients in their Durban office every month.

“Combined, our Durban and Johannesburg offices attend to over 1 000 asylum seekers and refugees every month,” said Nomagugu Ngubane-Mlawe, an attorney at LHR.