Questions posed by parliamentarians in both the National Assembly (NA) and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) brought to light the cost of deporting illegal immigrants as well as the numbers of people coming into South Africa sans the necessary documentation.
Among those asking questions of Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber was Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) National Assembly (NA) member Thapelo Mogale. He was told the South African government, by way of the taxpayer, spent R52 817 656 deporting illegal immigrant back to their countries of origin in the five months between 1 April and 31 August this year. That money paid for 19 750 illegals to return to their countries of origin, which works out at over R2 670 per person.
Going further back on the same topic, ActionSA NA member Lerato Ngobeni was told by Schreiber deportations since 1 January 2022, with no end date given, were 83 731. It cost R193 million – just over R2 305 per person.
In 2022/23, 10 808 people were deported, with the majority (7 393) being from Zimbabwe, followed by Malawi (3 020), Tanzania (159), and Nigeria (86).
Finding and rounding up illegals in South Africa was done by way of what Minister Schreiber termed “raids/operations conducted” with him telling his questioner there were 1 112 in 2022/23 and 1 538 in the 2023/24 financial year. All told these netted over sixty-two thousand undocumented persons: 22 436 in 2022/23 and 39 627 in 2023/24.
Asked by MKP (uMkhonto weSizwe Party) NCOP member Seeng Mokoena whether the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) tracked and monitored non-South African citizens approved for visa-free stay and those with visas for the prescribed duration, Schreiber noted “both categories of traveller ere provided a specified period of stay when they comply with admission requirements as stated in the Immigration Act. He did not elaborate apart from adding “risk-based solutions” were used as well as the deterrent of being declared “undesirable” for one to five years.
Tracking is done by the DHA inspectorate unit which, according to Schreiber, saw 171 025 foreign nationals overstay from January 2019 to August 2024.
