Illegal Immigration: Inconsistency and secrecy the order of the day at SAPS and DHA
11 March 2019
Today, Democratic Alliance (DA) Team One SA Spokesperson on Crime, John Steenhuisen, and DA Team One SA Spokesperson on Immigration, Jacques Julius, conducted an oversight inspection at the Yeoville Police Station, in Johannesburg.
This visit follows an alarming report by the South African Police Service (SAPS) to the Home Affairs Portfolio Committee that their resources are being heavily taxed by out-of-budget expenditure on immigration detention, which is a Home Affairs competency. We sought to engage with the station management about the challenges they face in trying to balance their primary function with this additional, unfunded responsibility that has been thrust on them. We also went to inspect the conditions in which the detained immigrants are held at the police station.
However, SAPS denied the DA entry to see the holdings cells, and we were unable to see the condition in which illegal immigrants are being held.
We were informed by the station commander, Colonel Mahasha, that Yeoville is one of the highest illegal immigrant hotspots in Gauteng. The Colonel informed us that on average the station detains five illegal immigrants per week. These are approximated numbers as SAPS does not have computerised systems to track numbers accurately. Furthermore, these figures are inconsistent with the statistics provided by SAPS in parliament, which indicate that during 2017 and 2018 alone, an average of 9 000 illegal immigrants were detained per month – with the highest number of detainees being drawn from Gauteng.