The fast-growing campaigns targeting undocumented foreign nationals by South African citizens is pushing the government to act speedily in protecting South African borders.
Since the beginning of the Dudula campaigns in various parts of Gauteng, government has had to move quicker in establishing a border management agency to attend to the country’s porous borders system.
Several Cabinet ministers condemned Dudula campaigns, warning that they could lead to yet another outbreak of xenophobic attacks in the country.
On Wednesday, Deputy President David Mabuza reiterated the government’s position, which is against citizens taking the law into their own hands.
During his question-and-answer session in the National Assembly, Mabuza discouraged any anti-foreigner sentiments and the destruction of property associated with the movement and related activities.
But he said they were concerned about the recent increase of criminal activities involving foreign nationals, which include the recent planned cash-in-transit heist that culminated in eight deaths and several injuries when police pounced on a criminal gang in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, last month.
He said the department of home affairs has a legal mandate to deal with concerns relating to undocumented foreign nationals.” Mabuza said:
We’re mindful of the legitimate concerns of our citizens where they feel there’s no sufficient action by our law enforcement agencies to deal with the issues of undocumented foreign nationals.
Mabuza said the immigration system was implementing stringent measures to deal with the influx of undocumented foreign nationals into the country, who subsequently compete with South Africans for limited resources. This competition has often led to tensions in many communities and manifested in different anti-foreign national campaigns.
“While the concerns that are raised may be legitimate, they must be raised and attended to within the scope of the law. We call for calm restraint and adherence to lawful means from all parties who are involved in the ongoing confrontation,” the deputy president said.
South Africa’s Constitution is hailed as a progressive tool that protects and promotes the human rights of all people who live in the republic.
However, Mabuza said, home affairs conducts its law enforcement activities in full compliance with the applicable human rights standards and has interpreted the Immigration Act to develop capacity and systems to track and repatriate all undocumented foreign nationals who enter South Africa illegally.
He said government was concerned about the cross-border crime affecting communities in border communities, such as car and stock theft, adding that this was getting priority attention from the justice, crime prevention and security cluster.
“We can assure the House that border management authorities will henceforth be properly and sufficiently funded to ensure that borderline infrastructure is properly maintained.”
“The recruitment of the first code of border guards is currently under way on the intelligence-driven initiative to deal with border crimes.” He said:
The agents will collaborate with other security and law enforcement agencies in the justice, crime prevention and security trust.
ON RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE
Responding to why South Africa was not taking an active stance in denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mabuza said the country supports the ongoing negotiations efforts between two countries.
“We believe that diplomacy is always the most sensible pathway in the outbreak of conflict and war. It should be pursued even when we’re already in a situation of war so that we engage in post-conflict reconstruction measures.”
“South Africa continues to call for the de-escalation of conflict, cessation of hostilities and for the parties to work together towards building trust and confidence.”
He refused to be drawn into the debate that South Africa does not want to condemn or take a position in the matter because of the ANC’s close ties with Russia.
“Yes, we’ve got strong relations with the with the then Soviet Union, the now Russian Federation. We are cooperating in Brics. That does not mean we are blind to the situation that is occurring now, the conflict that has arisen between Russia and Ukraine. In that conflict, we are calling for mediation. That is the center of the conflict. It will never help anyone to blame Russia or to blame not.”
“No amount of condemnation and side-taking will resolve this problem. Diplomacy remains the key tool at our disposal to end the war and to persuade the parties at war to deliver peace and stability.”
