On Friday, 11 July 2025, the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, led Operation New Broom to conduct its first immigration enforcement raids in Nelson Mandela Bay. The operation led to the arrest for deportation of 95 illegal immigrants.
As part of Home Affairs’ drive to restore the rule of law, Minister Schreiber launched Operation New Broom in May with the aim of intensifying enforcement operations in urban hotspots. Numerous operations have already been conducted in Cape Town, Pretoria and, now, Gqeberha.
The latest operation took place in the Gqeberha Central Business District, where a dilapidated warehouse was found to be housing numerous illegal foreigners and a Chinese-owned business was found to be in contravention of a range of immigration laws. A total of 95 alleged illegal immigrants were detected and processed for deportation. The Department will be in court today to confirm the deportation orders.
Minister Schreiber said: “Operation New Broom demonstrates our commitment to work in a focused manner to restore the rule of law. Our message to people who are in our country illegally, is clear: voluntarily self-deport now, before Home Affairs deports you and bans you from entering South Africa altogether.”
Enquiries:
Duwayne Esau
Spokesperson for the Minister
Cell: 077 606 9702
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