Mashaba Seeks Parliament’s Intervention on Illegal Immigration Crisis facing Joburg

7 August 2019

On Monday, 5 August 2019, I wrote to the Chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee for Home Affairs, Bongani Bongo, requesting an opportunity to appear before the portfolio committee to provide a briefing on the dysfunctional state of the Department of Home Affairs.

A copy of the letter can be found here.

For almost three years, and five Ministers of Home Affairs later, I have continuously attempted to engage the Department and the Ministers on the illegal immigration crisis facing Johannesburg.

These efforts were made in total good faith and in the best interests of Johannesburg and its residents.

Sadly, for the most part, these efforts have been ignored outright.

The Department is completely dysfunctional and failing in its constitutional obligation to address the issue of undocumented immigrants.

It has therefore become necessary to take up this crisis with Parliament, in the hope that the Department of Home Affairs will finally be held unaccountable.

As a City, we are expected to proactively plan and budget for the provision of basic services to all our residents. How are we, as a City, supposed to effectively plan and budget, when we do not know who resides in our City?

The City’s Health Department is one such victim of this inability to plan and budget accurately.

A report by the Health Department outlining its struggle to cope with the additional pressure brought about by undocumented immigrants, highlighted that between 15-39% of patients accessing City’s clinics were undocumented immigrants.

The City currently faces numerous challenges, including a housing backlog of an estimated 300 000 units. Within the context of the Johannesburg, illegal immigration compounds serious challenges in the provision of basic services and temporary emergency accommodation (“TEA”) to residents. As a City, we are also expected to proactively budget and plan for the provision of TEA, should residents be rendered homeless as a result of evictions or natural disasters.

During July 2017 the City housed over 600 undocumented immigrants from Tanzania at the City’s Wembley Stadium, in line with the City’s obligation to provide TEA. This followed a fire at the Cape York building in the inner city. Within days the Department of Home Affairs should have sent representatives to determine the legal status of the Tanzanian nationals, issue those that qualified with the requisite papers and removed those who were illegally in South Africa.

The City went so far as to engage the Tanzanian Embassy, who were willing to provide the City and the Department with assistance, however the undocumented immigrants refused this assistance.

It has been over two years since the City first provided the required TEA, and the undocumented Tanzanian nationals continue to reside in TEA at Wembley Stadium.

In November 2018, the City conducted a joint raid with the South African Police Service (SAPS), Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) and the City’s Group Forensic and Investigation Services (GFIS) in order to crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods in the inner city. Counterfeit goods to the value of R18 million were confiscated and a total of 34 undocumented foreign nationals were found in the warehouse, some apparently held against their will.

Just last week, the streets of the inner city were turned into chaos as hundreds of shop owners attacked the SAPS and the JMPD who were conducting a raid on the sale of illicit and counterfeit goods by the shop owners, whom were predominantly foreign nationals. The SAPS and JMPD were violently pelted with stones and other projectiles.

It is evident that the Department is failing in its responsibility to ensure that people entering our country are processed and timeously provided with relevant documentation.

Furthermore, allegations of corruption and bribery in the provision of immigration documents is aggravating this crisis.

Many people, out of desperation borne out of political, social, and economic instability in their countries, seek a better life in South Africa, and in Johannesburg in particular. As undocumented immigrants, many of these people make it past our borders, and are forced to live on the fringe of our society, in the shadows, and with limited protection.

It is essential that the Department of Home Affairs cleans up its act and ensures that there is:

1.      Identification and processing of undocumented immigrants; and

2.      In the appropriate circumstances, that legal documentation be expeditiously provided to those who qualify.

This will protect those who wish to legitimately enter our country from criminal elements, including slum lords and drug traffickers, who abuse their desperation and are able to evade the law.

We cannot remain silent in the face of the breakdown of the rule of law in our country, and the rising human crisis. Ultimately, the casualties of the Department’s inaction will be our poorest residents, and indeed, law-abiding foreign nationals.

To this end, I have humbly requested that the City of Johannesburg be given an opportunity to present to the Portfolio Committee on the dysfunctional state of the Department of Home Affairs. It is hoped that the Committee can hold the Department accountable and ensure that they fulfil their constitutional obligations.

Issued by Luyanda Mfeka, Director: Mayoral Communications, Office of the Executive Mayor, 7 August 2019