The department of Home Affairs has deported thousands of undocumented foreign nationals after a daring escape that took place at the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp last week. The department confirmed last week that it would also be investigating an escape of 69 undocumented foreigners, and look into a nearly R60 million contract it pays annually to the security company that was on duty when the escape took place.

Following the incident at 11.50am on Sunday, March 17, another attempted escape took place days later where one deportee died and two security officials of the facility were arrested. Facilities management company, EnviroMongz, that officiates as the security company is also being investigated to decide on what course to take next, meaning the department could terminate its services. Department spokesperson Siya Qoza said 1 050 individuals were deported to Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe last week, while 622 deportees left the facility after the escape incident.

“At the time of the escape, the facility was holding 1 521 undocumented foreign nationals who were awaiting deportation. The 69 escapees were part of this group.

“Most of these 1 521 undocumented foreign nationals were scheduled to be deported this week,” Qoza said.

Despite the incident on March 17, the department was still proceeding with its scheduled plan to deport undocumented foreign nationals to their countries of origin, he said.

The scheduled deportations at the time were to Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, eSwatini and Zimbabwe.

Of those who escaped 38 were from Tanzania, 14 from Malawi, five from Zimbabwe, Lesotho claimed two while the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and

Mozambique each claimed three citizens and one from Nigeria.

“EnviroMongz has informed the department that earlier on Monday morning there was another attempted escape which was immediately brought under control.

“One of the deportees succumbed to injuries that allegedly happened during the second attempted escape.

“This incident is now the subject of a police investigation in addition to how the escape of March 17, 2024 occurred. As part of the probe, police have arrested two security officers and they are in custody,” Qoza said.

The department was working with other law enforcement agencies to track down the escapees. As a result, one escapee has already been rearrested,” he said.

Lindela is managed by facilities management company EnvironMongz, which also provides security services on behalf of the department.

“Our investigation revealed there was an altercation between the inmates and EnvironMongz management and its security team. It was during this altercation that 69 undocumented foreign nationals escaped.

“The department is unhappy about the circumstances and the manner under which this escape happened because we believe enough could have been done by the management company and its security to prevent this incident. Hence, the contract is being scrutinised to decide on the best course of action”.

As an immediate intervention, the department had taken over access control and other security functions at the facility by putting in a different security company at the gate while the matter is still being investigated, he said. V.5265

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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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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