Immigration Amendment Bill: public hearings; GPW Oversight Visit Report; Preparations for KZN public hearings on Marriage Bill

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting. After doing so, he said the Committee had three items on its agenda for today’s meeting. The first was to conclude its public hearings on the Immigration Bill, with two organisations, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the Clayville Civic Association (CCA), set to make their submissions. Members of the Committee would be given the opportunity to engage with their submissions afterwards.

The second was to consider its report on its oversight visit at the Government Printing Works (GPW). This was necessary given the collapse of the entity’s systems over the last nine days, which culminated in its historical challenges.

Following its oversight visit, the Committee requested that the Minister of Home Affairs and his Deputy visit the GPW to follow up on the members' observations and prepare a report. This report will be presented the following week. These actions were part of the Committee’s efforts to restore good governance at the GPW.

The third was to receive a briefing from the Committee content advisor on the planned public hearings on the Marriage Bill, which will begin in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) next week.

In next week's planned meeting, members must consider the draft motion on the upper limit of private donations to political parties and the disclosure threshold. This follows a briefing by the Parliamentary Budget Office on this matter on 4 February 2025.

After making those remarks, he asked if any apologies had been received.

Mr Eddie Mathonsi (Committee Secretary) said an apology was received from the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs.

The Chairperson mentioned that Ms Lerato Ngobeni MP submitted an apology for her absence due to an accident she suffered the previous week. He invited the CCA (Clayville Civic Association) and COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) to take Members through their individual presentations.

CCA Submission on the Immigration Bill

Ms Tshidi Makwela (Representative from CCA) took the Committee through the presentation.

• The CCA submitted that illegal immigrants and/or undocumented migrants undermine the country’s constitutional order;
• Undocumented or illegal migrants violate the dignity of South African citizens, create disorder in communities, cause degeneration of infrastructure, disturb the peaceful development of communities, and exacerbate labour exploitation;
• The contravention of Section 49 of the Immigration Act is a serious criminal act with significant implications for communities, vulnerable children and women
• The Immigration Act must be swift, with persons being charged within 48 hours, and they must appear before a specialised magistrate court in that particular district court

(See Submission)

COSATU Submission on the Immigration Bill

Mr Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator) took the Committee through the submission.

• COSATU supports the Bill because it believes that it correctly seeks to empower the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and its officials to enforce the Immigration Act by enabling them to detain persons suspected to be in violation of the Act
• COSATU believes mechanisms must be found to ensure that the 48 hours timeframe for persons detained before the Magistrates’ Court do appear before them and that this is not caught up in delays and backlogs
• COSATU submitted that the DHA should appoint competent management, fill frontline vacancies, invest in its capacity and infrastructure, and remove corrupt and criminal elements

(See Submission)

Discussion

Mr A Roos (DA) agreed with the submission that the Committee should not extend the scope of the Bill beyond what the court ordered. The CCA, he felt, provided a good example of how some individuals illegally in the country due to being smuggled. This corresponded with the testimonies of some South African Police Services (SAPS) about the extent of trafficking of people into the country and how many of the trafficked individuals are pleading to be taken back to their countries of origin. Considering this phenomenon, he suggested that the Committee look into whether the term ‘irregular migrant’ could be included in the legislation to define individuals detained for not being able to produce valid travel documents instead of ‘illegal’ until a trial has taken place.

Moreover, he suggested that the Committee seek advice from the Parliamentary Legal Advisors (PLA) on what interests of justice criteria, contained in Section 60 of the Criminal Procedure Act, could be used in cases where someone is detained and then released.

Ms F Muthambi (ANC) wondered why the CCA did not speak about what communities are doing to deal with the issue of citizens sheltering illegal immigrants in their homes.

During her own oversight, she noted that recently, many illegal immigrants have been working on farms, with some having been given illegal asylum permits. This has created a serious backlog for the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) due to the number of illegal immigrants with false asylum permits lodging disputes against their employers. She asked for COSATU’s view on this.

Rev K Meshoe (ACDP) asked the CCA how it believed South African courts should act against the countries where the illegal immigrants come from and whether this would entail ignoring the protocols signed with the Southern African Development Community.

Thereafter, he asked COSATU what advice it had given the DHA regarding internal corruption by its officials.

Mr S Ngubane (MK) believed that the Committee had to organise a joint meeting with the Portfolio Committees on Justice and Police to find ways to collaborate in curbing what he described as the scourge of foreigners running the country due to the poor enforcement of laws.

He thought that many of the DHA's problems were due to understaffing, corruption, and incompetence.

The Chairperson noted Mr Ngubane’s proposal and said the Committee would look into it.

Responses

Centre for Child Law

Mr Fortunate Mongwai (Candidate Attorney at the Centre for Child Law) pointed out that Section 28 of the Constitution provides for all children within the Republic and does not distinguish between a migrant and a South African child. There is a new amendment in the Children’s Act, which states that an unaccompanied or separated migrant child is a child in need of care and protection. Based on this, the Centre for Child Law suggested that those instances should be dealt with through the Children’s Act. This would require SAPS to take children to facilities that cater for the needs of children and not correctional services. If a child is to be detained and taken to Lindela Repatriation Centre, the correct legal processes must be followed.

When a child is alleged to be an adult, an age estimation assessment should be done by the Department of Social Development (DSD) or SAPS. If the individual is found to be a child, the DSD guidelines on deportation and family reunification must be followed. All children in the country have the right to access services like health care and education, including migrant children. This aligns with the Phakamisa court judgement, which states that every single child has the right to access education regardless of whether they have documentation. The same Act provides an onus on the parents to ensure the child gets documentation. If the child is separated from their parents, then the state has an obligation through the DSD to ensure a child gets documented.

There are some government services where rights must be realised incrementally, and those must be realised immediately. The Centre for Child Law believes that if a country cannot issue a child with particular documentation, it should engage with the child’s country of origin embassy. If it is in the best interests of the child to be repatriated, then it should be done.

CCA

Ms Makwela explained that the CCA has initiated programmes for its members to better understand their communities, such as the street chairpersons programme, in which one person assigned to a specific street in the area is tasked with assisting the people residing there.

The CCA has also informed the communities renting out spaza shops to ensure that those they rent out to are legally in the country. Moreover, the organisation has a register to check the permits of all traders, and it monitors illegal activities.

On how South African courts could act against states, she said CCA suggested that the South African government implement sanctions against countries that refuse to cooperate with it on migrant issues or fail to take adequate measures. Resolving the issue of migration, particularly within the South African Development Community, would require all the member states to come together.

COSATU

Mr Parks agreed with the Centre for Child Law’s comments on children’s rights and with those on the need to include a binding clause in the Bill that would prevent the separation of children from their parents and ensure that people under the age of eighteen are put in places of safety instead of being detained. However, this would also require that the 48-hour time period to appear before the court be honoured.

There has been a large increase in the number of illegal migrants working on farms, in restaurants, petrol stations, and construction sites, he said. However, it would be unfair to blame these workers as they are fleeing countries with poor conditions. Many employers are exploiting the desperation, knowing that these individuals are highly likely to sacrifice their labour rights, which they are entitled to. The Department of Labour is increasing the number of inspectors to ensure workplace compliance. Even still, there was a need for political solutions in the host countries.

In his view, the issue of illegal migration had to be resolved before any further xenophobic attacks occurred.

He agreed with the Minister that the digitisation project would help reduce the scope of corruption, improve service delivery turnaround time, and reduce the need for applicants to bribe officials. The South African Revenue Services and SIU also needed to conduct lifestyle audits on senior officials in the DHA.

The department also needed to publicise the prosecutions and convictions of DHA officials to show that there are consequences for bad behaviour. Such actions would also indicate to the general public that positive developments occur at the DHA.

COSATU believed that implementing the current reforms would eventually lead to a turnaround at the department. However, it would need support from other relevant stakeholders, like the South African Police Services.

The Chairperson thanked all presenters for their submissions and recommendations on the Bill. He felt that there was a prevailing view that the government should engage with the countries to tackle illegal migration within the region best. The government has made efforts to engage with the home countries of undocumented migrants, but it has been struggling to do so due to the legal requirements of carrying out deportation.

The Committee may need to encourage the Minister and Cabinet to fully process the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugees so that a Bill can be tabled before Parliament for South Africans and Members to comment on.

The Committee was pleased by the executive’s decision to exempt the DHA and other security cluster departments from using the SITA network line. This decision will be affirmed once legislation is put before Parliament.

He pointed out that both the DHA and PLA must respond to the written and oral submissions.

Adv Moses Malakate (Legal Advisor at the Department of Home Affairs) said the DHA would respond to all the presenters' submissions and the Members' points.

Mr Albert Matsaung (Acting Deputy Director-General of Immigration Services at the Department of Home Affairs) confirmed that the DHA would respond to all the points raised if and when required.

The Chairperson noted their comments and afterwards released the stakeholders and department officials from the meeting.

Draft Report of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on the oversight visit to Government Printing Works

The Chairperson said the Committee has visited the GPW four times in an effort to resolve its challenges. While the Committee was pleased with the improvements in the previous year’s audit outcomes, it was worried about the infrastructural and governance issues the GPW continues to face. From its observations, the Committee believes it may need to exert oversight to assist the GPW in overcoming its challenges.

In the last nine days, the Committee has received complaints from the public about the downtime at the GPW, with many claiming that they cannot collect their passports. He hoped that through its discussion, the Committee would look to finalise its resolutions on what actions it believes need to be taken to correct the issues at the GPW and what the Minister can do.

Mr Adam Salmon (Committee Content Advisor) then went through the Committee’s observations and recommendations in the report.

The Chairperson invited Members to make comments or ask questions about the report.

Mr Ngubane felt that the report did not stress enough the incompetence of the leadership at the helm of the GPW, right up to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). If the Committee did not take serious action against the leadership, the GPW would fail, just like the Post Office. Furthermore, if the Minister failed to take drastic action against the CEO, he should step aside from his position.

Mr Roos agreed that the executive leadership lacked capacity and did not have plans to fix the machines at the GPW. Instead, it has resorted to outsourcing all its functions, which has been costly. This is despite the Ministerial consulting resources provided to teach the executive leadership how to recover from the continued information technology (IT) breakdowns. What was even concerning is that part of the GPW’s functions involved printing security documents.

In his view, the Committee and department had to consider whether the current executive at the GPW could address these issues, including the high irregular expenditure of R1.5 billion it has incurred.

He said the report should also recommend that the GPW elaborate on what will be done to fix its broken machine equipment.

Ms M Modise-Mpya (ANC) shared members’ concerns about the leadership of the GPW’s executive, particularly the CEO, which is factionalised. During its oversight visit, the Committee saw how employees are paid for work outsourced to service providers. The Committee also noted workers' frustrations due to outsourcing the activities, with some alleging that corrupt activities may occur. The Committee, she suggested, should recommend the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into these allegations.

Ms B Machi (IFP) shared the sentiments of the previous speakers, especially around the CEO's poor leadership. She called for the entire GPW executive to unite and find a way forward.

The Chairperson noted that the report was not specific about the infrastructural challenges the GPW faced. For instance, during its oversight visit, the Committee was shown a machine that had not been operating for fifteen years. He asked the content advisor to highlight these issues in the report.

Despite the work done by the Inter-Ministerial Task Team during the Sixth Administration, the GPW has done very little to address its longstanding issues, such as the lack of capacity to carry out its functions. Based on this, he expressed his support for the suggestion that the Committee recommend the SIU probe the allegations of corruption at the GPW. He went further to suggest that the scope of the multidisciplinary team appointed at Home Affairs should be extended to assist the GPW.

When the Minister appears before the Committee, he should communicate what action the department will take against the reported wrongdoing at the GPW and why the entity has been out of service for the past nine days. He added that the Committee would not conduct any further oversight visits at the GPW, as it believed it was now time for the leadership to implement the recommendations.

After saying that, he asked what other matters the Committee had to attend to.

Preparations for KZN public hearings on Marriage Bill

Mr Mathonsi said the Committee had to discuss the progress made in preparing for the public hearings on the Marriage Bill.

The Chairperson said he met with the parliamentary public education office (PEO) officials at Manco to receive a progress briefing on the preparations for the public hearings on the Marriage Bill. He and Ms Modise-Mpya were also invited to a meeting with the House Chairperson to account for the preparations. During the meeting, it was established that the Committee had insufficiently consulted the House Chairperson in preparing for the public hearings in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

Following the meeting, the Committee support staff and PEO reduced the number of districts in KZN to hold the hearings from six to three, primarily due to cost implications. The PEO has done sufficient preparation work in these three districts. The Committee will consider whether it needs to return to KZN once it has consolidated all other provinces in the public hearings.

Mr Mathonsi added that in 2024, the Committee initially agreed to conduct public hearings in six districts. Due to the cost implications, the House Chairperson advised the Committee to consider reducing the number of districts from six to three (uMkhanyakude District Municipality, Zululand District Municipality, eThekwini Metro Municipality). The Committee support staff asked the House Chairperson the previous day to consider the plan to hold public hearings in the three districts.

The Chairperson said he would invite the PEO to brief the members. In Manco, it was agreed that the support team would need to engage with the traditional authorities to inform them of the public hearings.

Mr Ngubane expressed concern that many Committees will be conducting oversight visits at the same time as the public hearings. Nonetheless, he was pleased with the progress of the preparations.

Mr T Mogale (EFF) asked why the number of districts was reduced from six to three.

The Chairperson said the team must work around the busy Parliamentary Committee schedule next week.

He indicated that cost implications and the fact that the public hearings in KZN were not politically approved contributed to reducing the number of districts from six to three.

The Committee has requested the secretary to interact with the DHA on their deployment to accompany Members at the public hearings to assist. While the attendees might address different points from the Bill, the Committee can assist them.

Ms Modise-Mpya expressed hope that all preparations will be done correctly this time.

The Chairperson said the Committee will deliberate on the upper limit of private donations to political parties, receive a briefing from the Minister on the GPW, and consider a report on the Border Management Authority. Having said that, he adjourned the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.