ActionSA has written to DHA and SARS to request a crackdown on illegal immigration and dubious businesses in Temba

12 August 2024

ActionSA, through our member of Parliament, Lerato Ngobeni MP, has written to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) requesting their urgent intervention in Temba, Hammanskraal, where during an oversight visit last week, we discovered illegal foreign nationals residing in the area and where dubious businesses were being openly operated.

Upon our arrival and inspection of just two blocks in Temba, we discovered 23 homes, many occupied by illegal immigrants, that had been converted into spaza shops, restaurants, and wholesalers selling counterfeit goods, with some structures even found to be connected to illegal electrical transformers.

With the mandate of residents who signed a petition for our intervention, ActionSA has stepped up and written to the Minister of Home Affairs to formally request raids on the 23 homes, for which we have provided the exact locations. We have also written to the National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS), requesting an investigation into the compliance status of each business with relevant laws and regulations.

Furthermore, ActionSA’s Tshwane Caucus will also immediately pursue this matter with the City of Tshwane to institute an investigation into the flouting of municipal trading and zoning by-laws concerning the 23 identified homes.

ActionSA believes that in any self-respecting country where the rule of law is obligatory and not merely suggestive, as some might believe, lawlessness should never be allowed to prevail to the extent we are witnessing in South Africa. It cannot be that South Africa is blackmailed into being the exception, where the proliferation of drugs, counterfeit goods, and the hijacking of buildings are met with leniency instead of a decisive crackdown

Fortunately, ActionSA has drawn the line and will utilise every legal avenue at our disposal to protect South Africa and her people from the ills that continue to destroy our communities, whether perpetrated by foreign nationals or South Africans.

ActionSA will therefore continue to fight for the residents of Temba and communities across South Africa ravaged by lawlessness and the impact of illegal immigration. We are committed to leveraging our representation in all three spheres of government to restore the rule of law, uphold the integrity of our immigration system, and ensure that the interests of South Africans, especially the most vulnerable, are protected.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, President, ActionSA, 12 August 2024