More than 350 migration-related arrests and prosecutions

The government has registered 354 recent arrests and prosecutions for migration-related offences, and more than 72,000 foreign nationals have been repatriated in recent weeks as part of the state’s nationwide migration management plan, says justice and constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi.

Kubayi was briefing the media on Sunday on behalf of the inter-ministerial committee on migration (IMC) alongside international relations and co-operation minister Ronald Lamola, police minister Firoz Cachalia and home affairs director-general Livhuwani Tommy Makhode, who is also the lead director-general of the IMC.

The briefing followed an unannounced inspection by the IMC at the Lindela repatriation centre in Krugersdorp on Friday, where ministers raised concerns about detention backlogs, deportation delays and weaknesses in co-ordination across the migration system.

Kubayi said law enforcement agencies were continuing to crack down on those who violated SA’s immigration laws.

“To date, law enforcement authorities have registered 354 cases of arrest and prosecutions against individuals who are in contravention of the law related to the issue of migration. An additional 69 people were arrested in Jeffreys Bay last weekend and appeared in court on Monday,” she said.

She stressed that migration management was fundamentally about enforcing the rule of law.

“Criminality will not be tolerated regardless of who is involved, and I must highlight that we, as the IMC, have taken note of some of the concerns and feedback from minister Lamola in this area in terms of those who are actually contravening the migration law by making or impersonating home affairs officials, and we need to be able to act in this area,” she said.

Kubayi said 68,138 foreign nationals had been processed through the Sherwood Hall transit site in Durban between June 14 and July 24, with the majority subsequently repatriated through the Musina temporary repatriation processing centre (TRPC).

She added that the border management authority (BMA) had processed 72,906 repatriations across all ports of entry between June 7 and July 14.

Kubayi said the figures included people departing through airports and land borders, including some who left voluntarily using their own travel documents.

“You will recall countries such as Ghana started repatriating their nationals much earlier. The majority of nationals processed at the TRPC centre were Malawian nationals, followed by Zimbabweans, and then Mozambican nationals in terms of the highest ranking numbers,” she said.

Kubayi said specialised migration courts had finalised 28,736 immigration-related matters between April 1 and the end of June, the majority involving deportations.

She announced that work was under way to establish a dedicated migration court at OR Tambo International Airport.

Kubayi added that upgrades to the court facilities at the Lindela repatriation centre had also begun.

The IMC had also decided to significantly reduce operations at the Musina TRPC after analysing migration trends over the past three weeks.

“The IMC has taken a decision at its regular meeting last Friday that, as of August 1, operations at the TRPC in Musina will be scaled down from a capacity of 20,000 to 1,500. This comes after analysis of data trends for the past three weeks,” said Kubayi.

She thanked officials from multiple government departments, municipalities, the SA National Defence Force, border management authority, SAPS and healthcare workers for operating the centre seven days a week, often until the early hours of the morning.

Kubayi also acknowledged the support of foreign embassies, businesses and non-governmental organisations that assisted with humanitarian relief.

She singled out MTN for its R15-million donation, while thanking Vodacom for providing network connectivity and organisations including Gift of the Givers, the Ali Amdad Foundation, Africa Muslim Agency, Musina Reformed Church and the Mahsasidi Foundation for supplying food parcels, infant formula, water, sanitary products and psycho-social support.

Kubayi said the government remained committed to implementing its five-point migration strategy despite ongoing challenges.

“The implementation of the five-point plan is yielding tangible progress. We are strengthening law enforcement. We are securing our borders. We are working closely with partner countries. We are improving policy and legislation, and we are ensuring that humanitarian considerations remain central to our response,” she said.

Kubayi said that while challenges remained, the government was firmly committed to implementing a migration system that was secure, humane, lawful and aligned with the values of our constitution.

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