Motsoaledi says SA Gvt not targeting Zimbabweans a...

Motsoaledi says SA Gvt not targeting Zimbabweans and warns of staff beef up to root out illegals

South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said the country is dealing with illegal migration and not specifically targeting Zimbabweans.

"The Zimbabwean permit cannot be temporary forever. The same will apply to the Basotho permit, and I know people have raised that we are only targeting Zimbabweans, but the Basotho permit is only expiring at the end of December 2023, not now," the minister told Parliament Home Affairs Portfolio Committee yesterday.

Motsoaledi also explained that that the permit backlog at Home Affairs offices was being caused by appeals from those who had been rejected, rather than the number of applications for renewals.

Motsoaledi said that authorities are aware that some employers have deliberate policies of hiring illegal immigrants because they are easy targets for exploitation.

"There are employers who deliberately hire illegal people, specifically because they want to oppress in what I call modern-day slavery, where people work for very little wages, or no wages at all," He indicated that farms, factories and the trucking industry have been targeted for investigation.

The minister also informed the parliamentary committee that Home Affairs was in the process of hiring 200 more immigration officers to beef up its staff in order to more effectively deal with illegal immigrants.

A number of Zimbabweans who have been living in South Africa have started to return home after the government of that country indicated that it would not be extending special exemption permits and was now taking a hard line against illegal immigrants in the country.

Zimbabwe’s recent census put the number of Zimbabweans resident in South Africa at almost 800 000 while the South African official records indicate that there are only about 180 000 special permit holders.