Estimations and inflated reports on the number of illegal foreigners plaguing SA, its borders and economy have been widespread for decades, often driven by political agendas.
As far back as 1998, Human Rights Watch reported a rise of xenophobia in the country and that “... some politicians in SA are exploiting the issue of undocumented migration for their own political gain, increasing levels of xenophobia by making unfounded and explosive statements about the cost of undocumented migration and its effects on various social services and crime.
“The mainstream debate around illegal immigration in SA, focusing on the economic impact and the impact on crime of undocumented migration, has been alarmist and ill-informed.”   
The most recent xenophobic attacks on social media directed at the newly appointed home affairs minister after his first act as a minister — extending the concessions made in light of the persistent backlog for legal foreigners with pending delayed applications — are a glaring example of how things have remained unchanged and how social media disinformation campaigns and agendas can thrive in modern times.
Shortly after the social media strike, to restore the public opinion balance, new home affairs minister Leon Schreiber publicly commended the SA Police Service on the arrest of undocumented foreigners in Paarl. According to the police, a trailer attached to a bus had been found to contain undocumented women and children, and one of the passengers attempted to bribe the police official who instead “honoured his mandate and executed an arrest on charges of prevention and combating of corrupt activities, an offence in terms of the Immigration Act, and prevention and combating of trafficking in persons”.
Given the minor scale of this incident in the context of the millions of illegal foreigners estimated to be within our borders, one can only wonder if its newsworthiness relates more to the non-venality of the police official rather than to a success story in the country’s fight against illegal immigration.
Back in 1997, then home affairs minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s estimate was that the number of illegal foreigners in SA was between 2.5-million and 5-million. Reading between the lines, the narrative was that less than 10% of the estimated population at the time was responsible for the surge of crime in SA. This storyline and the absence of any evidence to support it has found fertile ground in which to grow year after year across a population subjected to a severe lack of fundamental service provision.
In early 2024, then home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi, in full political campaign mode, vowed repeatedly to remove illegal immigrants and get rid of what he referred to as “crocodiles”. Dr Motsoaledi further clarified that his primary target was “respectable people who enter the country legally wearing suits or high heels carrying briefcases full of cash to bribe officials to legalise their stay in the country. We have reason to believe that crocodiles are found all over the country in very high positions.”   
On April 17, coinciding with the publication of the final White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration & Refugees Protection, Dr Motsoaledi also stated that “no-one can account for all undocumented migrants. [Home affairs] has no idea as to how many illegal immigrants are in SA”.
This admission alone undermined the border protection-driven immigration policies and credo he and his predecessors actively promoted. The establishment of the Border Management Agency was after all his solution to reduce the risk of illegal migration through SA’s porous borders.
The common thread over the years has remained alarmingly vague numbers, ineffective solutions and bribes. Yet understanding the real number of illegal immigrants is only the tip of the iceberg for a country struggling to come to terms with its own census. As recently as October 2023, the SA census set the record for the highest undercount (31%) among those countries where the undercount is measured and reported by the UN Population Division.
Although Stats SA has challenged these claims as unfounded and misleading, it remains evident that an undercount of any extent defeats the whole purpose of collecting census data, which is crucially aimed at planning investment and allocating resources within a country’s public and private sectors.
Whether undocumented and illegal foreigners are really responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime in SA, or not, it should be in everyone’s best interest to have an accurate census of illegal immigrants, allowing for their biometrics to be captured, their addresses to be included in reliable databases, and their ties, contribution or lack thereof to SA to be verified and considered rather than running dangerous witch hunts that only lead to bribes and fraud or, even worse, human rights violations.
Inconsistent application of our law and selective enforcement are not the answer. Arresting and deporting “crocodiles” — men, women and children — is not the way forward. We should demand a more human rights-driven and considered approach from our government.
Raids and arrests, as have been witnessed in the recent past, will only increase xenophobia, fraud and crime. Fraudulent remedies will increase with the increased demand and desperation. Bribes, fraudulent documents, fake marriages and illegal activities beyond an immigration perspective will prosper like a pandemic. Just over the past few weeks the number of enquiries received by this law firm from foreigners relating to work visas they don’t qualify for has surged in an unprecedented manner. This demand will be met somewhere else as people are left with no other choice.
Fraud and security breaches within the department of home affairs are also unmatched in their level of sophistication. This is cause for great concern, considering the sensitive information received, stored and processed by the department in its daily functions.
Investigating these integrity breaches within home affairs should be a primary focus if the department wishes to implement meaningful change rather than enact extreme measures to combat illegal migration and the breach of SA’s physical borders. We often only hear of the causes célèbre and not of the daily ramifications of these toxic operations.
A well-co-ordinated and well-informed amnesty with specific objectives and lawful process is the only effective solution to avoid the ongoing internal and external onslaught.

South Africans who were alarmed by former Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s comments in June that their green ID books would soon become invalid can breathe easy: the pace at which the department is rolling out the newer Smart IDs means the D-day for the green booklet is likely still a long way away.
Meanwhile, the new administration is bringing some new ideas—including a “refresh” of the smart ID—while sticking to the exact old timelines proposed by the previous one.
At the end June, Motsoaledi told ENCA that the Department of Home Affairs was working with the CSIR to update DHA systems in a bid to increase the rollout of Smart IDs so the country could “do away with the green ID book”.
He said the department would make an announcement “very soon” about making the older green ID book invalid. The department said it wanted to phase out the green IDs within two to three years.
However, the department previously made it clear that the green ID book would only be declared invalid once all its centres had smart enrollment facilities for faster ID card applications.
This has not yet been achieved, and the rollout of the Smart IDs has been slow: too slow to keep up with the population growth.
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) introduced smart ID cards in July 2013 with the intention of phasing out the green ID booklets from 2018 to 2022.
However, only 21 million Smart IDs had been issued by the end of 2023.
This means that 42 million people in South Africa would still need to be processed. This would require around 14 million Smart IDs to be issued each year over three years to meet the lofty target (not factoring in various variables like migration, births, deaths, etc).
According to the DHA, it issued 2.6 million smart ID cards against a target of 2.2 million in the 2022/23 financial year.
The new administration delivered the latest budget vote for the department in July. It said it was aiming for 2.5 million smart ID cards to be issued during the 2024/25 financial year.
At this production rate, the DHA will struggle to justify a deadline for invalidating South Africa’s green ID books.
The DHA’s plans to phase out the greed ID book are also compounded by the fact that new books are being issued each year, including millions issued for learners aged 16 heading into senior phase, and those issued to naturalised citizens or people with permanent residency who are not eligible for Smart IDs.
New home affairs minister Leon Schreiber said earlier in July that a system for the latter is being phased in. However, he could not give a timeline.
“This is being phased-in, with 280 cards already issued and another 697 in progress. Once the system has been adjusted to verify compliant applications, all naturalized citizens will be able to visit any Home Affairs office equipped with live-capture facilities to apply for their smart ID cards,” he said.
However, the minister has thrown in another possible complication, stating that, during the current administration, both the passport and smart ID card will be refreshed and updated.
This will be done “to enhance the security features of these documents, with the aim of building trust by more countries and organisations worldwide”, he said. This could complicate and potentially further delay the rollout.
New Home Affairs minister, Leon Schreiber
Other measures
The department has tried to speed up application and delivery of Smart IDs in the country by rolling out services to more branches, launching mobile service units, and opening satellite offices in high-traffic areas, such as major shopping malls and bank branches.
The partnership with the banks for these services has been hit with several delays, currently only operating at 30 or so branches as part of an extended “pilot” programme. On launch, as many as 40 new bank branches could be added to this, making services more widely available.
However, the Banking Association of South Africa confirmed to BusinessTech in May 2024 that the deadline of March 2024 was once again extended to September 2024 for the department and the banks to sign on.
The system has been in operation for almost nine years, with “periodical upgrades” being made. Over 3.5 million South Africans have used the bank branch system for the Smart IDs and passports, the department said.

The Department of Home Affairs has gazetted notice of its intent to cancel ID books and ID cards in South Africa for people whose ID numbers have been blocked.
Home Affairs Director General Tommy Makhode said that the decision was taken to cancel ID documents flagged for the following reasons:
•    ID documents or cards issued to people whose names are not required in section 5 of the Identification Act to be included in the population register.
•    ID documents or cards that do not correctly reflect the particulars to whom they were issued.
•    ID documents or cards that were fraudulently obtained—in that false statements were made, and false information was provided at the time of application for or issuance of the documents.
•    ID documents or cards that were forged—in that the documents or cards that were lawfully issued to other people were stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained or altered to reflect the names or images of someone who is not included in the population register.
The department did not specify how many of these documents would be affected, but said that any person who is affected by the cancellation of their IDs has 30 days from the publication of the gazette (ie, until 16 September) to provide a written response with reasons why their ID documents or cards should not be cancelled.
“Should I not receive the requested written reasons or representations, I shall proceed to cancel the identity document or card accordingly,” Makhode said.
Through the move, Home Affairs aims to both resolve the decades-old issue of wrongfully blocked IDs while reducing the number of fraudulent documents in circulation.
Some of the IDs were originally blocked as far back as 2005 for a range of reasons. This includes the biometric system flagging the documents as duplicates, held by illegal immigrants, or because the ID holder had passed away.
By providing the public with an opportunity to make representations, the department intends to end the inconvenience caused by the block to holders of legitimate IDs, while cancelling IDs held by unauthorised persons.
The gazetting of this measure is also in furtherance of compliance with a court order handed down earlier this year, which required the department to undertake a fair administrative process to differentiate between IDs that have been wrongfully blocked and IDs that represent genuine security threats.
The notice follows a high-profile scandal around the Miss South Africa beauty pageant, where the department discovered prima facie evidence that the mother of one of the contestants had illegally obtained identification documents.
It also comes amid a renewed clampdown on fraud and illegal operations from within Home Affairs, where syndicates have been found to be colluding with insiders to falsify documents for people who would not otherwise qualify for them.
In August, a 12-year sentence was handed down against one of the operatives in this illicit trade, with new Home Affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber signalling that the department is focusing on rooting out corruption.
“(The) sentence must inaugurate a new culture of zero-tolerance towards corruption. The fight against corruption in this department, as demonstrated by the serious nature of the issues raised in this case, is particularly urgent given that Home Affairs sits at the heart of our national security apparatus,” Schreiber said.
Home Affairs has been struggling for years to effectively root out corrupt operations and restore faith in the security of South Africa’s passports and ID documents.
Several countries and regions—most recently Ireland—have shut down easy-access travel to their borders due to the security concerns present, including many foreigners travelling on fraudulent South African documentation.
The problems also lie within South Africa’s borders, however.
At the end of July, 95 Libyans were arrested in White River, having entered the country with visas that were acquired through misrepresentation in Tunisia.
Home Affairs subsequently cancelled the irregularly acquired visas, and is in the process of deporting the foreign nationals.
“One operation at a time, we must restore the rule of law. Respect our laws, or there will be consequences,” said Schreiber.

 For the past eight years, Mqokeleli Sigwintshi has been trying to get a birth certificate from the Department of Home Affairs for his son, who is now nine years old. Sigwintshi said in 2015, his wife, with whom he had a traditional marriage, gave birth to their son at the Willowvale Health Centre. A year later, his wife visited her family in Mthatha. He said a month after she left, he received a call from a man who told him to come fetch his son in Mthatha, where his wife had left him. He said he travelled there as soon as he could. When he got there, the man directed him to a shebeen. “When I got to the shebeen, I found my son playing outside. He was only wearing a nappy, no clothes,” said Sigwintshi. At the time the child was only one year and a few months old. “I was very shocked and angry at the same time to find my son in that manner. I didn’t even know if he had eaten or not. Inside the shebeen there was a woman. She was the one who was looking after my son. I suspect the man who called me was her husband. It is clear they got my number from my wife,” said Sigwintshi. He said the woman gave him his son’s clinic card, and he had been taking care of his son ever since, but has been unable to obtain a birth certificate. He said each time when he visited the Department of Home Affairs, officials told him to go look for the mother of his son. “I don’t know how many times I visited Home Affairs in East London since 2016. My son is using my surname, the clinic card has my surname because we thought it was going to be easy when he uses my surname since his mother didn’t have an ID. I’ve given the officials many affidavits, letters from social workers including letters from our Chief but still I’m not being assisted.” He said at one time officials said he needed to get a DNA test to prove he was the child’s father. He did so in 2019 and the results stated there was a 99.9% certainty he is the father. He has been living in Kraaifontein, Cape Town, since 2021, and the last time he went to Home Affairs in East London was in 2023. “Even after I gave them everything, they still said that I need to find my wife so she can be the one doing the birth certificate for our son.” He was told that as a man, he was not able to obtain the birth certificate. “I gave them everything they requested but still they have not helped me.” Although his son is nine-years-old, and is now being cared for by Sigwintshi’s brother in Willowvale, and has been unable to attend school because the schools demand a birth certificate before they will admit him. “This is not fair to my son. My boy wants to go to school like other children,” said Sigwintshi. When contacted on 30 July, Department of Home Affairs spokesperson David Hlabane said the matter is being investigated, and asked for Sigwintshi’s contact details, which GroundUp provided after obtaining Sigwintshi’s permission to do so. On 13 August, Sigwintshi said he has since received a temporary birth certificate for his son, who on 12 August was able to start school in Willowvale. Eastern Cape Education Department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said children could not be denied schooling because they do not have a birth certificate. “As the department we will investigate the matter and check what went wrong,” said Mtima.

Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille has called for concerted efforts to ensure that the potential of the tourism sector to grow the economy is realised.
The sector is one of the apex contributors to the economy.
The country is seeking to attract 15 million tourists to South Africa by 2030 as the National Development Plan envisages.
Delivering a report on the economic impact on the tourism sector in Johannesburg yesterday, De Lille outlined the plans of the 7th administration to support the industry under the Government of National Unity.
“Our investments must be strategic. We must invest in marketing, we must invest in infrastructure and we must ensure policy adjustment and that’s my role to make sure that we maximise the potential of this sector. Even more so, I will be reviewing all existing policies to [make sure] that we grow at a faster pace,” says De Lille.
National Development Plan | Tourism assets in South Africa: Patricia de Lille