DA calls for immigration regulations debate
09 June 2014
Minister Malusi Gigaba's assertion that the Department of Home Affairs' recently gazetted immigration regulations are in the best interest of South Africa's security is an insufficient excuse for inefficient policy.
I will approach the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and request that these regulations be reviewed and debated by the committee as soon as possible.
Media reports and public outcry suggest that in less than a month the new regulations have already ripped apart families, dissuaded investors, and led to the suspension and even cancellation of multi-million rand film and tourism ventures.
Last month my colleague, and former DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Manny de Freitas, attempted to contact Minister Gigaba to discuss the detrimental impact of these regulations but did not receive a response.
The regulations' various omissions and lack of definitions and criteria raise serious concerns and will be subject to misappropriation and abuse by the department and its officials. Furthermore, the full cost of these regulations to our local economy and country's reputation remain to be seen.
I will therefore also submit parliamentary questions to determine:
The cost structure surrounding these new regulations;
The list of skills eligible for the newly instituted Critical Skills work visa;
What according to the Department and its regulations is considered businesses in the ‘national interest'; and
What the Department and its regulations consider "undesirable business" among other things.
These regulations suggest that Home Affairs is trying to ‘remedy' problems within the department such as its rampant permit backlogs and poor vetting by imposing autocratic legislation instead of addressing the department's internal disarray.
The Minister's and his department's attempts to save face for these problematic regulations by citing ‘national security' is entirely disingenuous and nothing more than scapegoating.
The DA will not sit back while these regulations and the department continue to compromise our economy and kill jobs.
Statement issued by Haniff Hoosen MP, DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, June 9 2014
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