Programme director
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
We are honoured to have been invited to participate in this important conference on Legal and Social Security Perspectives on Migration in South Africa.
In our country, in recent years, this matter has assumed heightened importance in our public policy discourses, particularly because of the heavy impact it is bearing upon the rest of society as well as public policy itself.
Indeed, this debate in South Africa is in some ways littered with horrific misconceptions about the process of international migration and the impact it is having on our society.
Some of these include the notion that:
- Migration is about people coming to South Africa, while South Africans do not emigrate.
- Migration started post-1994.
- Immigrants are African.
- All immigrants are criminals and South Africans émigrés do not commit crimes abroad.
- The rest of Africa is either already in South Africa or else on their way.
- All African immigrants are in South Africa on a parasitic mission to steal our jobs or at its most hilarious, to steal our girlfriends.
African immigrants are particularly viewed with suspicion, disdain and prejudice such that their best attributes and positive contribution to our society are often overlooked in favour of fantastic misconceptions.
Some of these misconceptions are of course informed by sheer and plain ignorance. That is why some of the people refer to immigrants as refugees as though the two are at all times the same.
Of course, what is a fact is that South Africa is indeed receiving large numbers of different types of immigrants. This week, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Antonio Guiterez, already made mention of the fact that most asylum-seekers and refugees have made South Africa their preferred country of choice on the continent.
Another important reality is that criminals on the continent, both from South Africa and other fellow African states, are also abusing the process of international migration and the weaknesses thereof in terms of policies and systems to commit cross-border crimes that leave many people not only sceptical but opposed to the process of international migration and calling for borders to be closed or immigration to be curbed as though this alone would provide sustainable solutions to this problem.
What compounds the immigration process on our continent is the fact that all African countries are developing nations with socio-economic challenges of their own.
And, South Africa is no exception.
In this regard, low-skilled or unskilled poor and working class immigrants who upon arrival in the country inhabit the same living spaces as our own poor and working class communities often face the most daunting challenges posed by this situation.
It is in these areas that the real battles for survival and competition for scarce resources take place and play themselves out sometimes in xenophobic or what others have called Afro-phobic sentiments that sometimes spill out into physical violence.
They further become susceptible to being victims of human rights abuses, human trafficking, as well as exploitation by unscrupulous employers who employ them below the conditions of employment stipulated in the labour laws and thus set them in conflict with South African workers and the unemployed.
From the outset, we must state it categorically clear that the view of the Department of Home Affairs is that immigrants, be they regular or irregular, whether affluent or poor, skilled or unskilled, be they male, female or children, are human beings and as such must be treated within a human rights ethos that recognises first and foremost their right to life and hence protection, as well as the socio-economic contribution that they make to our society.
In that regard, one of the three outcomes of our department is to manage migration in such a manner that it enhances our economic development whilst also paying attention to the security element.
International opinion is converging around the perspective that it is only those countries that have managed rather than endeavoured to combat international migration that have reaped the greatest benefits from the process of international migration.
It is for this reason that the Department of Home Affairs decided to shift the international migration paradigm away from trying to combat what is an inevitable process towards seeking to manage it in the national interest, as well as in the interest of immigrants themselves in a pro-active, rather than reactive, way.
In so doing, we are aware that it is not only skilled migrants that can or do make a positive contribution to our economy, but there is a lot that unskilled, low-skilled poor and working class migrants can and do contribute towards the enhancement of our economy, the deepening of our humanity as a people and further promotion of our cultural diversity as a nation.
Accordingly, the department last year requested the Cabinet to allow it to embark upon extensive consultations with a broad spectrum of stakeholders in society with a view to evolve a policy on economic migration, in order to address a policy hiatus that exists in this regard.
Towards this end, we have met with Business Unity South Africa and held a two-day workshop with the Central Executive Committee of Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and further consultations are still going to proceed with more stakeholders.
The challenge we are facing is that many economic migrants take advantage of the asylum route in order to regularise their stay in South Africa simply because there are no other available options.
This results in the asylum system being clogged up with people the majority of whom are not asylum-seekers and hence this undermines the protection obligation for genuine asylum-seekers as they often have to wait in long queues for their status to be determined and thus become vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers, organised criminal syndicates or even public servants.
Our view is that we should find a necessary balance between the need to enhance the economy of the country and guarantee national security, protect the integrity of the national borders and the sovereignty of the state.
It would be folly to elevate the security concerns above development, or to neglect them as though they did not matter.
After all, the security risks of migration can only be mitigated through development; or the sustainable security of South Africa can only be guaranteed through development.
In seeking to strike this delicate balance between development and security, we are trying to avoid two extremes; that is, either shutting down the borders and prohibiting immigration as some have argued and, on the other hand, just opening up the borders and saying anybody who wishes to come to South Africa must do so, regardless of the purpose, the procedures or management of the process, as others have also argued on the contrary.
Soon, the minister will announce an advisory task team that will spearhead this process and advise the minister accordingly as to which policy options to choose.
What is certain is that the South African immigration policy cannot remain the same as it currently is. There are way too many gaps that need to be plugged.
However, even with those evident challenges, it is broadly agreed that South Africa’s immigration policy is progressive and relatively liberal, even though with regard to asylum-seekers and refugees there seems to be a disjuncture between policy objectives and implementation.
Some of the gaps between policy and implementation are sometimes not caused by the deficiencies in the policy itself, but by the inadequacies of the implementation mechanisms particularly at administrative levels.
It was for this reason, inter alia, that we announced during the 2010/11 budget vote that we intended, as part of this extensive immigration policy review, to overhaul the asylum-seeker and refugee system and management by reviewing the policy and system. This work is on-going and shall, in due course, be made public.
With regard to asylum-seekers and refugees, as well as acceding to international conventions, South Africa adopted domestic legal instruments to manage asylum-seekers and refugees.
Among others:
- South Africa subscribes to the principle of non-refoulement.
- Refugees are not be prosecuted on account of their illegal entry into or presence in South Africa provided that they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence.
- Refugees are not be expelled from South Africa except on-grounds of national security or public order.
- Refugees are to be afforded basic security rights, protection from the abuse of state power, such as wrongful arrest and detention and protection against physical attack.
- Refugees are afforded basic human dignity rights such as protection against discrimination, the right to family unity, freedom of movement and association and freedom of religion.
- Refugees are afforded self-sufficiency rights, such as the right to work and to education.
Refugees and asylum seekers are entitled by the Bill of Rights to social services. The Refugees Act specifically states that refugees are entitled to the rights set out in the Bill of Rights, which include the right to adequate housing, education, basic health care and social security. Section 27 of the Refugees Act, 1998, provides refugees with free basic education and health services at the same rate as South African citizens. Refugees may also establish their own businesses in order to earn a living.
And, furthermore, there are certain rights which are accorded to asylum-seekers by law.
As we have stated it, there are often gaps between stated policy objectives on the one hand and implementation on the other.
The challenge is often that immigrants tend to be unaware of their rights or sometimes they are afraid to claim them, or are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of social services.
Since 22 August 2008, the Department of Social Development introduced disability grants in the lives of disabled refugees.
Unaccompanied minors also receive foster care grants through the foster homes that provide safer places for them. This is part of a comprehensive plan to provide social assistance to refugees who qualify for old age grant, child grant and others.
In addition they also have access to legal protection, employment opportunities, identity and travel documents upon application.
South Africa neither has refugee camps nor transit facilities within its borders. In this regard, asylum-seekers and refugees live freely anywhere in the country within the local community.
Recently, and in line with the view that South Africa’s international migration policies must be proactive rather than reactive, the ministry has been engaging fellow Home Affairs ministers in the region with a view to adopting uniform policies across the region on international migration.
It is our wish that there should be uniform policies and systems in the region to facilitate human movement and encourage regular migration throughout the region.
This imposes an obligation on all SADC States to ensure that their countries are politically stable and developing economically and that their nationals are both identifiable and have proper travel documents so that they can be protected during travel and in the countries of destination.
This will surely help to curb crime and reduce the tendency to associate or equate migration with crime.
Accordingly, it is important that nation states cooperate to ensure that their nationals can both travel freely and securely whenever and wherever they travel.
Furthermore, migration is a phenomenon which warrants concerted efforts of governments and civil society organisations alike to effectively manage its challenges as well as opportunities and together to minimise the risks
It is for this reason that:
- South Africa must begin to include the impact of international and domestic migration in its national planning.
- Accordingly, we must strive for greater coordination between all government departments, between the different tiers of government as well as between government and civil society.
Thank you.
