Over 750 Illegal Miners walk free thanks to Home Affairs incompetence

22 September 2023

Just two days after reports of a successful SAPS joint operation to address illegal mining in Kleinzee, over 750 illegal foreign miners have been released after Home Affairs officials had failed to process them within the required 48 hours.

Minister Motsoaledi must account for this brazen incompetence and the cost to both the SAPS and the communities around Kleinzee. Community members have already reported miners returning back to Kleinzee where illegal mining activities have threatened and displaced community members.

At a parliamentary oversight visit to immigration services on 30 April 2023 the DA raised the issue of the court process to convict illegal miners from Kleinzee. This process to convict illegal miners was being stalled by Home Affairs' failure to bring proof of illegal status to the court. The illegal foreign miners facing court proceedings do not get deported because the court cannot proceed. Home Affairs committed to look into the issue but it is clear they did not do so and have been found asleep on the job.

The DA will write to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs to demand answers from Minister Motsoaledi as to what actions were taken after the meeting of 30 April 2023, how many illegal foreign nationals are being released from prisons and Lindela itself because Home Affairs officials do not process them in time, and why Home Affairs failed to plan and capacitate the operation to process the arrested miners at Kleinzee when they were fully aware of the operation.

Issued by Adrian Roos, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, 22 September 2023