Humanitarian concerns are mounting at Sherwood Hall in Durban as the number of babies born to Malawian migrants sheltering at the facility continues to rise.
Malawian High Commission official Mufti Sulaiman says at least 17 babies have been born over the past two weeks, with more births expected this week as several pregnant women remain at the camp.
The growing number of migrants seeking refuge at the camp also continues to increase pressure on authorities to speed up the repatriation process.
Sulaiman says officials are working around the clock to ensure that mothers and newborns have access to healthcare services while arrangements are made for their return home.
Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber says the department is strengthening its use of technology to help prevent individuals who have been deported from re-entering South Africa.
Schreiber was visiting the hall where thousands of displaced Malawian nationals are being processed to return to their country of origin.
This follows reports of intimidation against undocumented foreign nationals.
He says the new system assists authorities in verifying information and detecting possible fraudulent documentation submitted during entry processes.
Schreiber says the initiative aims to improve border management and enhance the accuracy of immigration checks.
“It’s a new system that we launched in October last year and it started on a small scale, and it is used in China and Mexico. We have now done over 85 000 applications and that system uses a facial recognition system and compare the face of the traveller of the passport. And when you arrive in SA, we do another face recognition to confirm whether the person who is here is the person who has been approved to come. We are picking up here a lot of issues with people who don’t even have passports and that new system you cannot defraud through that modern technology.”
Immigration Crisis | Authorities working to speed up verification – Leon Schreiber:
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