PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has made a call that the war against people from other countries who are in the country illegally must not be a matter of fighting against each other.
Ramaphosa said that attention must be paid to those who instigate war and that the people of this country should not be accused of having hatred towards people from other countries.
“Every person in this country, or from another country, must respect the laws of the country. There should not be violence and it should not appear that we are people who hate immigrants. We should not be allowed to incite violence as well as racial discrimination. We should not turn our backs on each other because this war is being fought,” he said yesterday while presenting the budget of his office in Parliament.
He said they are strengthening policies that affect people in the country illegally.
“We are strengthening the borders by keeping a close eye on the entry of people into the country. We also visit employers who hire people who are in the country illegally so that they are fined for doing this,” he said.
And the ANC’s Whip in Parliament, Mr. Mdumiseni Ntuli, called for violence in the protests to expel people from the country illegally.
“We will not be able to bear all the problems of other countries. We encourage violence as the protests continue to expel people who are in this country illegally.”
These leaders are talking like this, there are protests almost every day to expel people who are in the country illegally. Illegal immigrants have been given a June 30 deadline to leave the country.
In various places, the security forces are busy arresting people who are in the country illegally. Others were taken back to their countries.
Ramaphosa also commented on the tension of things because there is no stability in the Middle East, because of the confrontation between Iran and America.
“It will still be very difficult because different things are increasing. This will set back the efforts we are making to improve the economy and create job opportunities. The situation will still be difficult before it gets better,” said Ramaphosa.
He said a lot has been done by the government as it has become a history of blackouts in the country.
“It has been a year since the blackout in the country. We have also increased the number of tourists who visited the country last year as they were 10.5 million,” he said.
He said they are eagerly awaiting the final report of the commission investigating the security irregularities in the country, led by Judge Madlanga.
“Since the first report was issued, many have been arrested and appeared in court. The final report will help us to strengthen the police force in this country.”
Dr Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, a member of MKP, said that they will not support the budget because it is like a dream that will not come true.
“The president is talking about creating job opportunities when the country lives by borrowing money. We no longer support the budget because things are worse since he took office,” he said.