While the number of foreigners repatriated in six weeks as part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s push against illegal immigrants is 94 short of 73 000, the cost involved begs questions about effectivity and sustainability.
This view comes from ActionSA provincial chair Victor Mothemela who is the just on six-year-old party’s senior office bearer in Limpopo. In reaction to a weekend briefing by Constitutional Development and Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi wearing her Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration (IMCM) chair hat he asked: “How much is the State spending on this revolving door system and how much longer can South African taxpayers afford it?”
His questions are based on a reported R80 million cost associated with repatriation of 72 906 foreigners at the Musina Temporary Repatriation Processing Centre (TRPC) between 14 June and 24 July – 29 working days. He wants the cost put under “serious scrutiny” noting South Africans deserve transparency on how this spend as well as determining if the approach employed is delivering sustainable results.
Taking his home province – which borders three of six countries neighbouring South Africa – Mothemela points to the R80 million as making – if it were not spent on repatriation – a meaningful difference to residents of South Africa’s northernmost province. Limpopo borders Botswana (400 km), Mozambique (150 km) and Zimbabwe (233 km).
“That money,” an ActionSA statement has him saying “could be invested in repairing Limpopo’s failing water infrastructure and ensuring residents do not go for weeks without reliable access to basic water services. It could contribute towards repairing the province’s deteriorating roads, many of which have become a danger to motorists and a barrier to local economic activity”.
“It could also assist in properly equipping understaffed public clinics, supporting schools that face shortages of essential resources and improving safety and lighting in communities where residents live with the daily fear of crime.”
He points to Limpopo’s just short of eight hundred kilometres of land border with neighbouring countries being “vulnerable” and the province “carrying a disproportionate burden when national border controls fail”.
“Communities in Limpopo should not be expected to absorb the consequences of a broken immigration enforcement system while their own basic needs remain unmet,” he said.
Mothemela maintains his views on repatriation and associated costs are not against enforcing the law – “it is an argument for smarter, more effective and preventative law enforcement”.
“The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) must understand that prevention is cheaper than cure. If the government fails to secure our borders, prevent illegal entry and enforce immigration laws consistently, South African taxpayers will continue to carry the financial burden of a system that repeatedly fails to address the root cause of the problem.”
“We need real law enforcement, not grandstanding. We need secure borders, effective immigration enforcement and consequences for those who break the law. At the same time, we need government to ensure that South Africans are not forced to sacrifice access to water, healthcare, education, roads and safety because of systemic failures that could have been prevented,” he said, adding ActionSA, not part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Government of National Unity (GNU), will keep on demanding accountability from it and the Department of Home Affairs.
“The people of Limpopo deserve a government that protects its borders, enforces its laws and puts the basic needs of South African citizens first.”
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