• WhatsApp is delaying by three months the rollout of a new policy that some critics said would turn over user data to Facebook.
• Users originally were set to opt in or out of the policy change on February 8 and will now not have to until May 15.
• WhatsApp said the delay is due to "confusion" and "misinformation" surrounding the new policy, which it said will "not expand our ability to share data with Facebook."WhatsApp is delaying its privacy policy changes that critics said would have forced users to share personal data with Facebook, according to a company blog post published Friday.

The delay was due to the "confusion" and "misinformation" surrounding the new policy, according to the company. It said the new policy update only includes new options for people to manage their business on WhatsApp and "does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook."

The date of the new policy rollout will be pushed back until May 15, according to the blog post. WhatsApp also said no one's account will be suspended or deleted on February 8, when the policy was originally scheduled to go into effect.

The announcement comes two weeks after WhatsApp announced the new change, drawing criticism from the messaging app's users who were concerned about their data privacy. After the new policy was announced, many users began flocking to alternative messaging platforms, such as the encrypted chat app Signal. Tesla CEO Elon Musk even tweeted to "use signal."

WhatsApp on Monday attempted to address the uproar over privacy concerns with a post on its website, explaining that the update was designed to aid businesses on its platform, as it reiterated in Friday's post.

"We want to be clear that the policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way. Instead, this update includes changes related to messaging a business on WhatsApp, which is optional, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data," WhatsApp said.

Signal saw 7.5 million downloads last week, a 4,200% spike since the previous week. On Wednesday, Signal was at the top of both Google and Apple's app stores. Large swaths of users migrated to Telegram as well - the platform gained 9 million new users last week, up 91% from the previous week, and is also at the top of Google and Apple's app stores.

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The courts have pronounced on this section of the Act

 “ Section 4(3) of the Act, which came into operation on 1 January 2013, sets out requirements for citizenship by naturalisation, as follows:

‘A child born in the Republic of parents who are not South African citizens or who have not been admitted into the Republic for permanent residence, qualifies to apply for South African citizenship upon becoming a major if:

(a) he or she has lived in the Republic from the date of his or her birth to the date of becoming a major, and

(b) his or her birth has been registered in accordance with the provisions of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1991).’

[3] It is common cause that all the respondents were born in South Africa, had their births registered in terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992 (Births and Deaths Act), have lived here since birth and have no other home apart from South Africa. The respondents have been unable to obtain citizenship in terms of the Act, because the Minister of Home Affairs (the Minister) interpreted the section as excluding them and also failed to promulgate the necessary forms to apply for citizenship. “

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Johannesburg - Minister of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi says his department is on course to appoint border control guards including border management commissioners in their drive to bring to end illegal movement of people into South Africa.

Motsoaledi made the announcement as South Africa is experiencing an influx of people trying to illegally make their way into the country especially through the border gates of Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho.

The influx worsened recently in Zimbabwe after the government introduced stricter lockdown regulations where curfew was implemented as 6pm and 6am in that country prompting people to cause chaos at the Beitbridge border gate.

Some were on Thursday still converging at the border gate hoping to make their way to South Africa amid the presence of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the South African Police Service (SAPS) who were jointly manning the borders following a series of illegal crossing through the Limpopo River.

“We will soon establish border control guards, including appointing permanent commissioner of the Border Management Authority (BMA) soon after President Cyril Ramaphosa signs the BMA Bill into an Act of parliament. We want to appoint the border control guards to allow the army to continue to do their work of protecting the sovereignty of the country and the police to do their criminal investigations,” Motsoaledi said.

He, however, said he had asked the army and police in the meantime to intensify their operation after receiving reports that some of the illegal immigrants allegedly paid bribes to certain police officers to allow them to cross illegally to South Africa.

Equally concerned about the illegal crossing is Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba, who raised the alarm about people trying to enter South Africa with false Covid-19 test results. Beitbridge border crossing staff discovered more than 50 people in the past weeks with fake Covid-19 tests while the Department of Health was enforcing regulations requiring anyone entering the country to produce a negative test, taken no more than 72 hours prior to a border crossing.

Due to the chaos, parliamentary portfolio committee on Home Affairs led by advocate Bongani Bongo had this week visited various ports in the country – a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the closure of 20 land ports, which also included Beitbridge, Lebombo and Mbuzini.

Bongo said the solution to the problems of congestion at the border posts was through the establishment of One-Stop Border Post with neighbouring countries and the establishment of the Border Management Authority (BMA).

“On May 18, 2020, when the committee received a briefing from the department, it identified the One-Stop Border Post and BMA as pillars in the way of ensuring the smooth functioning of the border area and is thus concerned by the slow progress in implementing this policy position.

“To alleviate the perpetual crisis at this border, the government must move with speed to implement an already agreed policy position to establish a One-Stop border post. The tardiness in implementing this policy position is both unacceptable and a contributing factor to problems at this port of entry,” Bongo said.

Bongo said the aim of One-Stop Border Post was to improve the efficiency of movement at the port of entry which is something that is lacking at Beitbridge currently.

Yesterday, the portfolio committee was in Mbuzini and Lebombo to all witness congestion at those border gates. While there, immigration officials carried out various arrests of people who tried to cross into South Africa –they were arrested and then deported back to Mozambique.

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The Equal Education Law Centre says it has secured placement of more than 100 children in Matatiele for the 2020 academic year. The children were out of school due to lack of identity documentation.

All undocumented children, including children of illegal foreigners, are entitled to receive basic education, the high court in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape ruled on Thursday

The basic education department will in future be obliged to provide and fund a basic education for all undocumented children, including children of illegal foreigners.

It is estimated that the judgment will affect over a million undocumented children who are either seeking admission to public schools or who have been warned to provide documentation to avoid being excluded.

Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge set aside sections of the schools’ admission policy which in any way hindered undocumented children’s access to school.

He also set aside an Eastern Cape education department 2016 circular warning that the department would fund only children at schools who had valid documentation.

Mbenenge said that all provisions of the Immigration Act had to be interpreted to be in line with the constitution. This meant that it had to be read in a way that meant that it in no way prohibited the provision of a basic education to illegal foreign children.

Judge Irma Schoeman and acting judge SM Mfenyana agreed with Mbenenge.

The ground-breaking case, which will have national implications, kicked off when some 37 children in the Eastern Cape were denied access to school because they had no birth certificates, study permits or passports.

The Centre for Child Law and Phakamisa High School in Port Elizabeth, represented by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), set out to challenge all the regulations and laws that inhibited undocumented children from accessing basic education. They successfully argued that they constituted an unjustifiable limitation on children’s constitutional right to basic education as well as their right to equality and dignity.

In a statement issued in response to the high court ruling, the LRC said a common yet false perception was that undocumented pupils must be “illegal foreigners” as all SA children have their births registered and are in possession of an identity document.

“According to the department of basic education, 998,433 children are currently attending school in SA, are undocumented, and cannot be accounted for by the department of home affairs. Only 16.7% of these learners are foreign nationals, while 83.2% are SA children whose parents, guardians or caregivers have not managed to secure birth certificates for them.

"... Many of these learners are growing up with extended family members who struggle to obtain the necessary documentation for the children when their parents are no longer around. The children are often born at home and their births are not registered within 30 days as provided for in the Birth and Death Registration Act. This is either due to a lack of resources to travel to the nearest home affairs office, or due to an inability to produce all the documents that are required by Home Affairs to register a birth.

"... This judgment is therefore predominantly affecting SA children who, through no fault of their own, are unable to secure the registration of their births.”

The Equal Education Law Centre hailed the judgment, describing it as a “phenomenal victory for children across SA”. The centre also shared that late last month, it had secured placement of more than 100 children in Matatiele for the 2020 academic year. The children were out of school due to lack of identity documentation

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Did you know that you may apply for permanent residence if you are a  relative ( parent ) of citizen or permanent residence holder within first level of kinship   . In other words you can apply via your child .

Changes to the Immigration regulations now permits a father or mother to apply for permanent residence via their child .

We have found in many of the marriages where for example the spouse or life partner is

on temporary residence , they have a child with a South African but don’t have the 5 years good faith relationship , did you know you could apply for permanent residence via your child

Please contact us and let us show you how .  

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