Impact Forum, a civic movement, condemned people who demand to see identification from those they suspect are in the country illegally and called for the Department of Home Affairs to hire 10,000 immigration officers.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo/Independent Media
Civic movement Impact Forum has condemned people who demand to see identification from those they suspect are in South Africa illegally, calling the practice unlawful.
Organisation leader Rollance Mabula said this during a Tuesday media briefing outside the Department of Home Affairs in Pretoria.
He spoke after his organisation called off a planned march on Tuesday demanding 10,000 new immigration officers at the department following a meeting with senior department officials on Monday night.
He said the purpose of the planned march was to get feedback from the department following the forum’s march on May 5.
“We are not xenophobic and all we need is a practical solution that can resolve the ongoing protests against foreigners without any violence or harassment of foreign nationals in South Africa,” Mabula said.
He said his organisation believes anti-immigrant sentiment is growing because people are exploiting the department’s shortage of immigration officers.
“We demand that the department employ at least 10,000 immigration officers on five-year contracts. They should be the ones conducting ID checks. We don’t accept people going around asking for documents when they don’t even know what they look like. Most don’t know what an original visa looks like, let alone a fake one,” he said.
Recently, ATM leader and MP Vuyo Zungula said Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber told him only 832 immigration officers are available to manage immigration issues nationwide.
Schreiber was responding to Zungula’s parliamentary question on the challenges faced by immigration officers policing illegal immigration.
Mabula said the Impact Forum was among organisations invited on Monday at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster was meeting to address rising protests over illegal immigration.
"We met with Home Affairs Deputy Minister Njabulo Nzuza and the department’s director-general. They assured us that they would give us feedback on our recent memorandum submitted at the department. They said that our memorandum is well received and it is getting attention and they assured us that we will get a written feedback and that is the reason why we decided not to go ahead with the march," he said.
He expressed confidence that the government is definitely looking at whether to employ additional officers.
"It does not really matter as long as they increase the number of immigration officers we have in South Africa. Currently, it is very painful to see people being abused and harassed, the violence happening reflects poorly on us. It is not giving us a good picture in the world," he said.
He spoke against the growing anti-immigrant sentiment that paints foreigners as criminals, saying: "There is no way all of them can be criminals. Not all of the Nigerians are selling drugs. I know Nigerians here in town who are doctors. Ghana once chased the Nigerians and ten years later they went to Nigeria and they were chased away."
Despite government appeals for calm following talks on undocumented migration, March and March says it will proceed with a national shutdown on June 30 and is calling on undocumented migrants to leave the country.
During a media briefing by the security cluster ministers, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi called for calm, stating that people’s right to march and freedom of speech are protected in the Constitution.
“However, we emphasised the importance of ensuring that these marches are peaceful,” she said.
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za