During the home affairs budget vote on July 10, deputy minister of home affairs Njabulo Bheka Nzuza emphasised the department’s purpose, the services it offers its people and responsibilities required to fulfil its important role and to serve to the people.
These are the main points he made in his speech:
The department of home affairs is the only department that can:
• affirm or grant citizenship to foreign nationals;
• grant non-South Africans authority to enter or leave SA;
• allow non-South Africans access to work, study or to do business in SA through its visa regime;
• grant asylum seekers a refugee status in the republic; and
• designate a port of entry to facilitate movement of people and goods in and out of the country, opening a gateway to international trade.
`These are tasks we must execute with high level of consciousness that a compromised immigration system results in a compromised country. Our immigration system has a direct impact on our national security and the economy.
`If we want a world-class home affairs with world-class immigration systems, we must be comfortable to discuss discomforting issues. The Greek mathematician Archimedes teaches us that `the shortest distance between two points is a straight line`. To solve our problems, we must be upfront, frank and direct,` said Nzuza.
He said that SA is today a great place to live in and many people in the world aspire to live and work in the country and to be South Africans; and laws that have been developed are humane, business friendly and go beyond just conforming to international standards on immigration.
`We do not run refugee camps but we allow integration of refugees to local communities.
`We give refugees the same rights as citizens except for the right to vote. They have access to our social services such as basic health and social grants,` said Nzuza.
`SADC countries do not require a visa but only a passport to visit SA. We do not deny foreign nationals to work, study and to do business in SA provided they comply with the Immigration Act and related legislation.`
The white paper on international migration of 2017 states: `International migration in general is beneficial if it is managed in a way that it is efficient, secure and respectful of human rights. In general nations flourish where

people with different origins, skills, resources and cultures are able to live work and trade peacefully.`
Nzuza said that despite these open and friendly channels of migration, there are still those who enter the country illegally, undermining the sovereignty of SA.
In an operation conducted at the Marian Hill and Tongaat toll plazas in KwaZulu-Natal between July 1 and 7 2019, 39 foreign nationals were caught driving trucks without permits and the legal status to be in the country. One employer has already been charged and more arrests are imminent.
Nzuza said: `We will curb the appetite of employers to employ undocumented foreign nationals all in the name of profits. They must know that when they break the law and employ illegal immigrants they will face the consequences and our inspectorate unit.
`The major reason why they do this is because they seek to maximise their profits by abusing foreign nationals by paying them below market value salaries because they know they are in the country illegally. This can no longer be allowed to continue. We will fight the corruption that allows people and goods to enter the country illegally.
`We have a serious responsibility to capacitate our inspectorate and allocate the necessary funding in order to enforce immigration laws that decisively deal with illegal immigration and its impact on our economy, social security spend and national security.`
The department will also make an effort to improve efficiency in refugee reception centres. Its Advanced Passenger Processing System allows the department to see and target undesirable visitors before they even board a flight from their destination, and stop undesirable visitors for purposes of national security.
Nzuza said the National Targeting Centre profiles trusted travellers and registers them in the e-gates system which will open for them automatically when they present themselves at airports of entry. The system also conducts risk assessments on visitors after they have boarded flights as a secondary control system. This ensures undesirable and risky visitors are kept at bay, to create a secure environment for the country.
www.sami.co.za V.2921

I recently renewed my passport at Home Affairs in a bank branch and was very impressed with the service and quick turnaround time. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and major banks first launched the option to do Smart ID card and passport applications via select bank branches in 2016. It has slowly grown to around 30 locations, including branches from Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, and Standard Bank. My passport was set to expire in October 2024, and because many countries require that your passport be valid for six months from a travel date, a renewal was due. V.5324
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DA MP says this is up 20 000 from the 74 000 six months previously Department of Home Affairs visa backlog is up by 20 000 in 6 months The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Visa backlog has increased from 74 000 in August 2023 to 92 000 as of 16 February 2024. This is an increase of just under 20 000 in about 6 months. Download the Parliamentary question and answer here. The increase goes against what the Minister told the Home Affairs Parliamentary Committee in March 2023. V.5325
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The European Union (EU) will limit visas for people from Ethiopia. This is because the Ethiopian government hasn`t been helping take back citizens who stay in the EU illegally. The EU Council announced this in a statement on Monday. Ethiopians won`t get visas for multiple entries anymore. Also, Ethiopians with diplomatic and service passports won`t have their visa fees waived. V.5326
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CRIMINAL convictions more than two decades ago came to haunt a man who was offered a job as a senior data discovery and enrichment expert, but after his prospective employer got wind of the convictions, retracted the job offer. But the Gqeberha Labour Court came to his rescue and found that the man should be given a second chance, given that his convictions occurred 20 years ago and had meanwhile been expunged. V.5327
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Nigeria’s economy, which ranked as Africa’s largest in 2022, is set to slip to fourth place this year and Egypt, which held the top position in 2023, is projected to fall to second behind South Africa after a series of currency devaluations, International Monetary Fund forecasts show. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook estimates Nigeria’s gross domestic product at $253 billion based on current prices this year, lagging energy-rich Algeria at $267 billion, Egypt at $348 billion and South Africa at $373 billion. V.5328
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There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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