The following argument in the department of home affairs’ white paper on immigration just about sums it up:
“South Africa is today a great place to live in and many people in the world aspire to live in, work in or be citizens of South Africa. In the result, many foreign nationals come to South Africa and stay in the country illegally. No one can account for all undocumented migrants. The department of home affairs has no idea as to how many illegal immigrants are in South Africa.
It says that Africa Check â€` the organisation that sorts facts from fiction and combats disinformation â€` has “come across claims of 5 million, 6 million and even 13 million migrants” in South Africa. Quite wild claims, as anyone can tell.
The bottom line here is that we just do not know. The best the authorities and experts have had to work with are estimates.
According to the Migration Data Portal, an estimated 2.9 million migrants resided in South Africa at mid-year 2020 (ibid), the most industrialised economy in the region and a particularly attractive destination for those in search of education and better opportunities.
The white paper could not have come at a better time as immigration is set to be a hot potato in the election campaign that is already underway, even before a date for the poll is set. Many political parties have latched on to this subject, spewing populist rhetoric and suggesting unsound, unworkable solutions.
Just last week Patriotic Alliance president Gayton McKenzie led a bunch of his goons on a mission to stop Zimbabweans from crossing the Limpopo River into South Africa.
Recklessly xenophobic South African opposition Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie and members of his right-wing party took their anti-immigrants vigilantism to the Limpopo River in Beitbridge bordering South Africa and Zimbabwe in a bid to prevent undocumented people
They succeeded in getting social media attention for their fool’s errand, something that was obviously the sole intention of the exercise. The PA and some other formations have proposed the wholesale deportation of “illegal immigrants” and even have this as a key election promise.
How exactly they intend to hunt down and transport millions of people to various countries around the continent and beyond defies comprehension. Even now, home affairs says it only manages to deport between 15 000 and 20 000 illegal immigrants annually.
The department, for its part, has been involved in a futile bid to end the Zimbabwe exemption permit scheme that allowed people who had fled that country during the economic and social meltdown to regularise their stay in South Africa.
This would have meant that 178 000 people would suddenly have had to uproot and return to a country that is still in the dire straits it was in when they left. With 15 to 20

years in South Africa, these people now have roots here.
There are children who have grown up as loyal supporters of Orlando Pirates and removing them from the country where this great football club resides would severely traumatise them.
They would lose out on the education system that has nurtured their minds. Their parents have homes and jobs that sustain extended families in their blighted home country. Simply put, that mass deportation would be an act of immense cruelty.
And it would target these documented and law-abiding immigrants and leave millions of others who are an unknown quantity to roam free.
This white paper has now put this divisive issue in the formal debate space. It has created space for us to discuss immigration, residency and the route to citizenship in a rational manner.
That by no means guarantees that the inputs will be well reasoned, but at least it is not a space that is clumsy and uncontrolled, as with the vigilantism and populism that has defined South Africans’ recent responses to the immigration crisis.
As Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi points out in his introductory remarks to the white paper:
the policy and legislative gaps within the department of home affairs have created fertile ground for violent clashes between foreign nationals and citizens, including belligerent groups siding either with or against the current migration system.
The public participation process should be more than about consolidating three disparate and antiquated pieces of legislation into one that meets the needs of modern-day, democratic South Africa.
Our immigration system has failed us in the past and left us saddled with huge numbers of undocumented people. That, in itself, is a security threat. It is also burdensome to institutions that provide services and to those who plan human settlements and infrastructure.
But thinking you can wish away the immigrants (legal and illegal, asylum seekers and economic refugees) is a fantasy.
We have to accept that the vast majority of economic refugees and asylum seekers are here to stay and try to document and accommodate them in our hierarchies of citizenship and residence.
We also have to accept that, inasmuch as we can try to seal our borders, they can never be 100% foolproof.
People will always slip in illegally, especially as long as South Africa remains an El Dorado for many in Africa and Asia. And once they are here, they will make this their permanent home. Trying to bus, rail or fly them out is a waste of resources.
Our focus should be to make them productive and documented residents of this country. It is all about an attitude change. V.5167

Australia’s plan to cap the number of new international students to 270,000 starting in 2025 has sparked widespread concern within the education sector. However, the proposal, which still needs parliamentary approval, is unlikely to have a significant impact on students from African countries planning to study in Australia. The National Planning Level (NPL) for 2025, which includes the limit on the number of international student enrolments, aims to reduce overall migration to pre-pandemic levels. V.5595
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Bethuel Ngobeni, Dumisa Moyo, Nhlanhla Magwaca, Moseki Sechele, Thabo Sechele and Khudzai Mashaya appear in court to face illicit gold mining charges. Image: Thapelo Morebudi An investigation into illicit gold mining has uncovered how one of the accused obtained a fraudulent identity document, 12 years after arriving in SA. V.5594
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• Lesotho has rekindled moves to implement localisation rules for certain types of businesses dominated by foreigners. • Indians, Chinese and South Africans dominate the 47 reserved businesses. • SA firms will be under pressure to use local distributors, and not contract Basotho labour via SA-based agents. V.5587
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Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. CAPE TOWN - Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that long queues, off-line systems, and paper-based applications at department offices would soon be a thing of the past. Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. V.5588
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‘There are various pathways and provisions in the law that recognise that people should not be stateless, and we are failing to ensure that these people have papers,’ says Global Movement Against Statelessness’ Christy Chitengu. Christy Chitengu was born in South Africa and regards herself as a South African, despite her parents being Zimbabwean. V.5589
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Inspection at workplaces set to increase Newly appointed home affairs minister Leon Schreiber will increase inspections at restaurants, spaza shops, farms and mines to heighten the crackdown on undocumented workers in these industries. Schreiber said while SA welcomes those who contribute to the country legally through skills, investments and as tourists, it needed to do more to combat illegal immigration. V.5592
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CAPE TOWN - Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber says since March, his department already reported 109 cases of document fraud to its counter corruption unit. Three officials have been convicted and sentenced during this same period. V.5593
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Key Takeaways • As of August 28, Canada has banned temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country. • The policy`s early termination is part of IRCC`s efforts to manage the influx of temporary residents and combat immigration fraud. • Starting September 26, 2024, Canada will cut the number of temporary foreign workers by about 65,000. Canada has recently launched a new policy that prohibits temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country, a decision that significantly impacts their ability to work and stay in Canada. V.5583
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The United Kingdom has long been a favoured destination for South Africans seeking work or residency, thanks to shared language, time zones, and historical ties. However, according to JP Breytenbach from Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants, the profile of South African migrants is changing. “There is a significant increase in business migration, with companies aiming to expand into the UK as a gateway to Europe or the US,” he shared in an interview with Biznews. Many of these South Africans businesses feel they have reached a ceiling in their local markets or are tech entrepreneurs who believe their products are not yet viable in South Africa. This year, new UK immigration rules are set to take effect as the country seeks to limit net migration. V.5584
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Applicants who prefer hard copies of ZEP waiver letters will still be able to collect them at branches. Leon Schreiber, Minister of Home Affairs, during the swearing-in ceremony of the new national executive members at Cape Town International Convention Centre on 3 July, 2024 in Cape Town. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has announced that the first batch of Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) waiver applications has been processed. ZEP holders will no longer need to go to Home Affairs branches to find out the outcome of their applications. The department will be sending them out digitally. V.5585
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