Question NW2535 to the Minister of Home Affairs
28 September 2022 - NW2535
van der Merwe, Ms LL to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
(1) With regard to the Republic’s illegal migration crisis, what is his department’s position on the offer by the Lesotho government to assist the Government with repatriating Lesotho nationals within the Republic’s borders; (2) what (a) is the total number of immigration inspectors from his department and (b) plans are in place to increase the numbers; (3) what (a) is the total number of deportations per year and (b) total budget is available for deportations; (4) with his department not knowing the total number of illegal and/or undocumented migrants within the borders of the Republic, what (a) plans does his department have in place to verify and/or reject claims that the Republic is home to approximately 12 million illegal and/or undocumented migrants and (b) is his department doing to ensure that communities like Krugersdorp and others who have been protesting against the prevalence of illegal migrants are assisted?
Reply:
1. The department has always had good co-operation from the government of the Kingdom of Lesotho when it comes to repatriating their nationals who are found to be illegal in South Africa. The position of the department is to continue this co-operation which includes the Lesotho government confirming their nationals prior to deportation.
(2)(a) The Inspectorate as at 1 September 2022 has 700 members.
(2)(b) Funding was provided for the filling of 293 posts in quarter 1 of this financial year. The process to fill the posts has already commenced with 196 offers of employment being issued.
(3)(a) The number of deportation recorded for the last 3 financial years is as following:
-
- 2019/20 – 29376
- 2020/21 – 14859
- 2021/22 - 14113
There was a notable decrease during the course of the state of disaster arising from the Covid Pandemic.
(3)(b) The budget allocation for deportations this financial year was R20,901,000.00
(4)(a) The department is aware of the figures given by the Statistician General Risenga Maluleke a figure of 3.95 million foreign nationals are in South Africa according to their mid-year population estimates in 2021. This figure includes foreign nationals regardless of status. The department therefore refutes the figure of 12 million as we are not aware of the verifiable source that figure comes from. In order to deal with the challenges arising from persons who are undocumented the department is vigorously conducting operations and inspections to deal with this.
(4)(b) The department has been active in engagements with communities like Krugersdorp and has ensured that local, provincial and national elected representatives, community groups and other stakeholders have direct access to the senior management of the department to respond to these challenges. The department has been part of the multi-disciplinary team that is responding to the challenges of illegal immigration. A team of 60 immigration officers has been part of this effort. Prior to this the department was part of the team that was involved in crime combatting efforts in Diepsloot from April 2022 to July 2022.
END