Question NW920 to the Minister of Home Affairs

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07 October 2019 - NW920

Profile picture: Phillips, Ms C

Phillips, Ms C to ask the Minister of Home Affairs

Whether any raids/inspections have been carried out by immigration officials of his department in areas where violence is prevalent amongst illegal miners; if so, (a)(i) on what date and (ii) where were the raids carried out, (b) what total number of illegal immigrants (i) were arrested and (ii) have already been deported and (d) what is the average time frame between the arrest of an illegal immigrant and deportation?

Reply:

Any raids conducted against illegal miners (“Zama Zamas”) are led by specialised police units due to the dangers involved in illegal/ illicit mining and the heavily armed groups who oversee such activities. Illegal Mining or Illicit Mining relate to the mining of unwrought precious metals or uncut diamonds when such entity or person is not permitted, authorised and licensed to conduct such activity. The Department of Home Affairs will after the arrest of any suspects conduct verification of the immigration status.

From the available information, the record below should be noted.

(a)(i) Operations have been conducted for the period 1 April 2018 until 31 August 2019.

(a)(ii) Welkom

(b)(i) The number of illegal immigrants arrested resulted in 1275 successful prosecutions

(b)(ii) The number of illegal foreigners who were directly deported were 935 and those who were transferred to Lindela Holding Facility for deportation were 957.

(b)(iii) The average time for a person to be arrested and deported is

determined by how quickly the embassy/mission of the deportees issues their emergency travel documents. On average it takes up to 30 days.

 

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