The African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) has called on the Home Affairs Department to reintroduce immigration quotas.
This as tensions continue to rise in several parts of the country over the influx of undocumented foreign nationals.
There’s been protests across the country calling for the deportation of undocumented foreign nationals, with a national shutdown set to take place on the 30th of June.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula was briefing the media on the outcome of the party’s NEC meeting which took place over the weekend.
“The NEC urges the Department of Home Affairs to consider with appropriate urgency the reintroduction of quota limits on immigration intake. Our country must decide transparently and in the public interest how many additional persons, that means at its disposal, can lawfully and humanly accommodate. The instrument exists in our laws. Section 19 of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 provides the framework.”
Meanwhile, the ANC NEC has acknowledged the complaints of the March and March Movement as genuine and their demands reasonable.
The party’s highest decision-making body says illegal immigration and migration in general is a global phenomenon and does not characterise the majority of these activities as xenophobic.
“The NEC does not characterise the majority of these activities as xenophobic because xenophobic is something that is equal to hate, crime, and is condemned universally by law of the United Nations, and we believe that south Africans are not xenophobic. There are those among these groupings who gravitate to hatred, which is dangerous for our country.”
ANC Secretary General media briefing on outcomes of NEC meeting:
-Additional reporting by Zara Groenewald
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