CITIZENSHIP WHITE PAPER
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced the publication of the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection for public comment on Sunday. He called for South Africa to ‘press the reset button’ when it came to international agreements on refugee protection.
When Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi announced the publication of the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection for public comment on Sunday, he called for a complete overhaul of the migration system in South Africa. He further advocated for the country’s temporary withdrawal from international agreements on refugee protection.
The draft policy, which has been in the works for four years, is intended to provide a framework for the granting of residency and citizenship to foreigners, as well as for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa. Cabinet approved the publication of the White Paper for public comment earlier this week.

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There have been consistent loud voices calling for effective policy measures and legislative interventions dealing with migration in South Africa. These voices grew louder as violent clashes between foreign nationals and citizens reared their ugly heads. Many groups for and many groups against migration are gaining momentum,” Motsoaledi said at a press briefing on Sunday.
The draft policy proposes that South Africa should review and withdraw from two international agreements on refugee protection: the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and the 1967 UN Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. According to Motsoaledi, when the South African government acceded to these agreements in 1996, it had not yet developed a clear policy on migration, including refugee protection.
As such, he said, South Africa did not make any of the reservations or exceptions permitted in terms of international law when it joined the agreements. These reservations would have allowed the country to limit the socioeconomic rights afforded to refugees within its borders.
“It is not surprising that South African courts developed jurisprudence regarding asylum and refugees, in the absence of reservations and exceptions, which is unfavourable to the interests of the government,” said Motsoaledi.
“The White Paper proposes that the government of the Republic of South Africa must review and/or withdraw from the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol with a view to acceding to them with reservations like

other countries.
“This White Paper proposal is not against the United Nations… We are saying that as a country, we need to press the reset button. It is us, not the United Nations, who in 1996… committed this error.”
Overhaul of citizenship, immigration and refugee policies
The policy framework proposed in the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection is intended to replace three existing national policies:
• The Citizenship Act 88 of 1995;
• The Immigration Act, which is act number 13 of 2002; and
• The Refugees Act 130 of 1998.
“These pieces of legislation are not in harmony with each other. Piecemeal amendments were made without any policy framework whatsoever,” Motsoaledi said.
“The White Paper makes radical proposals regarding citizenship… The Citizenship Act and Births and Deaths Registration Act must be repealed in their entirety and be included in the single [piece of] legislation dealing with citizenship, immigration and refugee protection.”
The minister of home affairs should be empowered to declare an asylum claim made by an asylum seeker invalid if that person travelled through an alternative country that could have offered protection before reaching South Africa.
He added that the Border Management Authority Act would also need to be reviewed to align it with the new policy framework.
While Motsoaledi acknowledged that the Department of Home Affairs had “no idea” how many illegal immigrants there were in South Africa, he said that Immigration Services deported between 15,000 and 20,000 illegal foreigners each year.
Among the proposals in the White Paper were that the powers of immigration officers and the Inspectorate for Immigration Services be strengthened; and that an independent Immigration Division be established to deal with the granting of visas.
Motsoaledi said the minister of home affairs should be “empowered” to declare an asylum claim made by an asylum seeker invalid if that person travelled through an alternative country that could have offered protection before reaching South Africa.
“This policy framework would discourage asylum seekers who deliberately fail to apply for asylum at the first safe country which is a signatory to the 1951 [UN] convention, the 1967 [UN] protocol and the 1969 [Organisation of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa],” he said.
Motsoaledi further claimed that the new policy framework would “deter economic migrants who come to South Africa disguised as asylum seekers” V.5076

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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Home Affairs’ seemingly endless court battles set the department back more than R110-million between April 2023 and the end of February this year. This was revealed in a written parliamentary response by minister Aaron Motsoaledi. He said the department accumulated a litigation bill of R117 692 996.3, higher than the R72 637 944.51 spent the year before. V.5315
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Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) this week revealed that Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) has achieved a ground-breaking milestone by processing more than 10 million passengers over a single financial year. This is the highest number of regional and international passengers processed since COVID-19 V.5316
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In recent years, South Africa has seen a significant influx of immigrants from various African countries, as well as other parts of the world. This has raised important questions about the country`s immigration policies and their impact on job creation for both locals and immigrants. The South African immigration system, like many other countries, is a complex and ever-evolving process that aims to balance the country`s economic needs with its social and cultural interests. Let`s take a closer look at how this system intersects with job creation in South Africa. The South African government implemented the Immigration Act of 2002, which outlines the country`s immigration policies and procedures. Under this act, foreigners are required to obtain a visa or permit to enter, work, or study in South Africa. The type of visa or permit required depends on the intended purpose of the individual`s visit and their country of origin. V.5312
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Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17 V.5313
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Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation. V.5306
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Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s indifference to the plight of those affected by his decisions is appalling In the tumultuous seas of immigration law, where uncertainty looms and families are left adrift in bureaucratic limbo, the department of home affairs has emerged as a sinking ship. As a director of a firm of immigration attorneys I’ve witnessed first-hand the dire consequences of the department’s negligence and incompetence. Today, I raise my voice not just as an attorney but as a concerned citizen, urging for a radical overhaul to salvage what remains of our immigration system. We have tirelessly fought battles in the courtroom against home affairs’ disregard for agreed-upon time frames. Countless cases have landed on our desks, each one a testament to the systemic failures plaguing the department. We’ve seen cases where contempt applications were the only recourse, as the department brazenly ignored court orders. V.5307
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Document proposes overhauling the Citizenship Act, the Refugees Act and the Immigration Act and a review of the international treaty on refugee protection Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the cabinet has approved a white paper overhauling the country’s immigration laws after “robust engagements” that resulted in “wide support” of the document’s policy positions. V.5308
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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. The lost hours are largely due to system downtime, surpassing load-shedding. In the 2022/2023 financial year, where we experienced extensive load-shedding, system downtime was the cause of 41 691 hours lost (17 years), whereas load-shedding caused around 9 322 hours lost (4 years) at DHA civic offices on the production of smart IDs. V.5309
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JOHANNESBURG - Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi said that while the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection had been gazetted, there were amendments that needed to be made to the legislation before it could be passed into law. The White Paper is proposing an overhaul of the country`s migration laws, with the aim of tightening rules around allowing migrants into the country. V.5310
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