The war campaign against illegal immigrants is INTENSIFIED as KwaZulu-Natal, Pakistanis and Malawians have the highest number, who are sent back to their countries.
This was expressed by a senior official in the Ministry of Home Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Cyril Mncwabe, who told the Parliamentary committee, that those from these countries are the ones with the highest number who return them to their countries.
Mncwabe said that the number of illegal immigrants returned to their countries in the last three quarters of the year has dropped to 3,000.
“There are 948 people who are in this country illegally and we take them and leave them at the borders adjacent to the province, so that they can return to their countries. We take 2,141 people from KZN to Lindela in Gauteng, so that they can be returned to their countries,” he said.
Ms Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi, a member of Parliament representing the EFF, asked to which countries people are being sent back.
“I ask because I want to know that the focus is not only on black people, others are left out.”
Mncwabe confirmed that the majority of those who returned, are from Pakistan and Malawi. He also revealed that they will increase the number of workers in the Department’s immigration department.
Mr. Sihle Ngubane of the MKP read a list of complaints from female workers working in the immigration department.
“They are complaining about being abused, not being provided with services such as handcuffs and pepper spray when they are taking male immigrants to the courts. They are complaining about being insulted, sexually abused and not being safe when they are taking these male immigrants,” he said.
Mncwabe said there are four men working in this unit at the office in Mngeni, Durban.
“We will increase 10 workers in this unit, in the next few months we will have increased the number of workers to reduce the burden. The immigrants we leave at the border adjacent to the province are from Lesotho and Swaziland,” said Mncwabe.
The director general of the Ministry, Mr. Tommy Makhode, said that the issue of complaints by women workers in Mngeni is something that the Ministry does not take lightly.
In this meeting, complaints about problems in different offices of the Department were also raised. Among the complaints is the issue of not being in a good condition to work in these offices, people waiting in line at the Department get sunburned and rained on, as well as those who travel long distances to get IDs in Jozini.
It turns out that some of these offices, including the one in Pinetown and Pietermaritzburg, have challenges that have been reported for years. In Pietermaritzburg it was reported that people were queuing at the door because there was a lack of space.
The Deputy MEC in the Ministry, Mr. Njabulo Nzuza, admitted that there are challenges that have existed for years in other offices, including the one in Pinetown.
“I personally went to the offices in Pinetown, in 2021, and we were promised that they would soon be moved to another building. There were problems and it was not possible. Maybe we have to look for the offices ourselves as the Ministry, as this work is done by the Ministry of Public Works,” he said.
He said that his Department is the one that pays the rent for the rented offices, it is not paid by the Department of Public Works.
The chairman of the home affairs committee, Mr. Mosa Chabane, lashed out at the Ministry of Labor and said that he should not say that he knows all the problems that are being complained about but that he should fix them because they have been reported for years.
He said some offices are dangerous for people as well as workers because they are not in good condition.
It has been encouraged to use government buildings because private contractors are looking to renovate rented buildings.