Johannesburg - President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to act decisively and tighten immigration laws and policies.

Ramaphosa, in his weekly newsletter, reflected on last Thursday’s tragedy at Usindiso Shelter, where 77 people died when a fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning.

On Monday, the president, who has jetted off to Zimbabwe for the inauguration of president-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa, said it has become his priority to deal with regulating illegal immigration as this encourages exploitation of the vulnerable foreigners in the country.

“Dealing decisively with illegal immigration is a priority because regularising the immigration status of all those who have the legal right to be in our country helps to protect them from exploitation.

“There are complaints about employers who flout the law and hire illegal immigrants so they can pay them less. There are also corrupt individuals in the state working with criminal syndicates to get fraudulent documents for those desperate to remain in the country,” he said.

Ramaphosa added that last week’s tragedy, the second such in one week, even though the first one was not as severe and widely reported on, was one tragedy too many.

“Last Thursday, the 31st of August, we woke to the news that a building in downtown Johannesburg was on fire, with many of its inhabitants still trapped inside.

“At such a time, we embrace our common humanity. It does not matter what the nationalities of the inhabitants are. It does not matter if they were or were not documented. What matters is that, as a people of empathy and compassion, we rally around the survivors who have lost everything and who are struggling to come to terms with what has happened to them,” Ramaphosa added.

Ramaphosa said there needs to be serious questions asked about how some 200 people were able to occupy a building that was not built for housing, was unsafe, and had no basic services.

“Serious questions must be asked about why by-laws are not being enforced across vast swathes of certain cities, resulting in them becoming run-down. These areas are attracting crime, further compounding the problem.

“Serious questions must be asked about how the laws and regulations designed to protect tenants from arbitrary eviction have been used by unscrupulous and criminal ‘slumlords’ to prey on society’s most vulnerable,” he said.

When it comes to housing, Ramaphosa said the country needs to resolve backlogs in the provision of housing in towns and cities across the country as more and more people enter urban centres.

“This tragedy has brought to the fore the need to resolve the challenge of housing in our cities. The demand for housing continues to grow. The movement of large numbers of people into our major centres is fuelling the growth of informal settlements and placing further strain on infrastructure and services.

“Municipal authorities across the country dealing with inner-city decay need to redouble their efforts to revitalise these areas, use regulatory and legislative provisions to safeguard human life, and hold landlords whose premises have become headquarters of criminal activity accountable.

“We need clean, safe, liveable, and vibrant inner cities that attract people to live, work or study. We want our inner cities to attract businesses and investment. We cannot allow certain parts of our cities to suffer chronic neglect and become ‘no-go areas’ because of rampant criminal activities,” he said.