Members of Parliament have weighed in on the ongoing issue of the deportation and expatriation of foreign nationals.
The debate on the budget vote on Home Affairs was dominated by the response on the demands made by March and March for foreign nationals to leave the country by the 30th of June.
Poor enforcement, corruption at borders
ActionSA MP Lerato Ngobeni says poor enforcement of the integrity of the country’s borders is the reason there has been an influx of undocumented foreigners.
Ngobeni says government has failed to protect the people.
“A country does not lose control all at once, it loses it gradually. One undocumented illegal crossing, one fraudulent permit, one trafficking road, one ignored law at a time – and when those failures accumulate, it is ordinary South Africans who bears the consequences. The first duty of any state is to know who is within its borders, under what conditions they entered and whether they have the legal rights to remain.”
Patriotic Alliance MP Millicent Mathopa says South Africans deserve a government that respond positively to their needs.
“Significant resources have been allocated to immigration services, border management and the modernisation of identity systems, challenges such as illegal immigration, porous borders and weak enforcement continue to place pressure on public services and compromise national security. South Africans deserves a government that delivers services efficiently and responsibly.”
RISE Mzansi MP Makashule Gana says the issue of undocumented foreign nationals should be seen in the light of rampant corruption at ports of entry.
He says the protests against illegal immigrants should not only target people of African descent.
“Now with only a week to this supposedly the 30 June deadline, this question is more important than ever. We know that our immigration system, to put it lightly, is broken to its core. Our borders are physically unsecured, application processes are delayed and corruption is rampant both at our physical border post but also with the issuing of South Africa travel documents.”
Strengthening borders
IFP MP Busaphi Machi says the party is happy that the Department of Home Affairs has joined forces with other stakeholders in the private sector in strengthening security in the country’s ports of entry.
“In light of this, we welcome the department’s fiscal commitment to strengthen the country’s boarder security. We are particularly encouraged by the recent announcement of a R12.5 billion partnership between the private and the public sectors to rebuild our six busiest ports of entry.”
Legal documentation
Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane says his party agrees that all people coming into South Africa from other countries must be legally documented.
Maimane however says that violent protests cannot be tolerated.
MK rallies behind March and March Movement
Meanwhile, the uMkhonto we Sizwe Party says it continues to support the March and March movement demands.
MP Sihle Ngubane said the March and March movement is fixing failures of the Home Affairs Department.
“We congratulate the March and March to assist this Home Affairs that is failing to do its job. They failed our people and March and March is not xenophobic and is not doing anything wrong or illegal. They just are helping Home Affairs in its failure for doing the deportation and doing its work properly. MK Party does not support the failures of Home Affairs and does not support the failures of the Border Management Authority.”
MPs with dual citizenship
Meanwhile, African Transformation Movement leader Vuyolwethu Zungula has called on Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber to disclose in public how many cabinet members and MPs are naturalised citizens and hold dual citizenship.
Zungula says it’s important that information be provided by the minister.
“Equally concerning is the fact that the minister does not want to answer how many members of the cabinet and how many members of Parliament are naturalised citizens and hold dual citizenship. This is very important for transparency for the electorate to know the loyalties of the people who preside over their affairs, the people that make laws in Parliament and the people with executive power that sit in cabinet.”
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