Immigration mess not foreign to SA
By Sowetan – 17 June 2022
Often news breaks of the arrest of home affairs officials and foreign nationals running one scam or another meant to bypass immigration laws.
When a police team pounced on a gang of robbers at The Hill, southern Johannesburg, a worrying dimension was added to the story. Police released the nationality of the men arrested in the raid, and it emerged that most of the thugs were foreign nationals.
Mention arrests these days and the subtext is “what nationality are they?” It speaks to a crisis those empowered to do something about seem to ignore – the mess that is immigration in this country.
Often news breaks of the arrest of home affairs officials and foreign nationals running one scam or another meant to bypass immigration laws.
In an interview on Radio 2000 on Tuesday, home affairs minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi spoke of the arrests of home affairs officials along with Pakistani and Somali nationals in connection with a scheme in which locals were hoodwinked and passports were issued in the name of foreigners. In the end locals lost their citizenship when they were removed from the national registry for a quick buck.
Many will recall how Motsoaledi came under fire recently and was labelled xenophobic simply for doing his job. Marches were even held to call for his sacking.
Sadly, the minister appears to be the odd one out, left to handle a problem that is nothing short of a crisis.