ActionSA challenges new Home Affairs Minister to make tackling illegal immigration a top priority

5 July 2024

As the newly appointed Home Affairs Minister, Leon Schreiber's first act was to extend temporary concessions for foreign nationals' visas, along with public statements outlining priorities for improving work visa processes, ActionSA implores the Minister to address the urgent crisis of illegal immigration with equal vigour and make it a top priority.

The Minister would do well to understand that the widespread corruption and mismanagement that has plagued the Department of Home Affairs has allowed criminal elements to exploit our legal visa regime.

This illegality has contributed to the proliferation of drugs and illicit goods in South Africa, necessitating urgent strengthening of our borders and immigration controls.

If the Minister’s intention is to put the interests of South Africans first, he must prioritise the crisis of illegal immigration with the same urgency as he highlights the issue of work visas.

The spiralling crime rates linked to foreign crime syndicates operating with near impunity, and the widespread exploitation of cheap foreign labour in an already constrained labour market that has left millions of South Africans without job opportunities, are consequences of our flawed immigration system.

With expanding terror networks across the African continent, South Africa cannot afford to be lax in allowing undocumented individuals to roam freely across our country without trace.

ActionSA will closely monitor all developments as the new Home Affairs Minister outlines his plans, exercising maximum oversight to ensure that the interests of South Africans are protected.

Issued by Lerato Ngobeni, Parliamentary Caucus Chief Whip, ActionSA, 5 July 2024