Home Affairs Minister, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi has hinted that the department has decided to overhaul its immigration system and that details of this will soon be announced.
Motsoaledi said this when he tabled the department’s Budget Vote priorities during a mini plenary of the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The Minister highlighted that another elephant in the room is the problem of immigration. “I don’t have to outline what is taking place in our country about this problem. It is a crisis we are all well aware of,” he said.
His remarks come after a recent rise in tensions between South African citizens and foreign nationals in several communities, with the main issue being unhappiness with undocumented immigrants taking up economic activities, while others have been fingered to be contributing to crime.
“For today, it will suffice to say we have decided on a complete overhaul of the immigration system of the country. Complete overhaul means exactly that. Work in this regard is well underway and we will soon unveil it, he added.
Meanwhile, Motsoaledi explained that the much-anticipated Border Management Authority was being implemented. He said the Commissioner and his two Deputies are hard at work to establish the structure.
“Recruitment of first cohort of Border Guards has been completed and they will be brought in next week for onboarding, which includes an orientation programme and deployment to the selected areas of the borderline which are known to be problematic,” Motsoaledi said.
This cohort is most likely to be officially launched in the beginning of the next quarter.
