Gigaba: SA can benefit by welcoming migrants

Source: The Star, 19/09/2016

Johannesburg - South Africa should embrace international migration for
development of the country, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has
said.


He reiterated that South Africa was committed to offering sanctuary to
refugees.


"This is a matter which for us is not merely an international
obligation, but a moral imperative. It is an expression of our foreign
policy, which seeks to build a better Africa and a better world," he
said.


"Therefore our commitment to refugees is unwavering, and the challenge
before us is to figure out what is the best way to discharge our
mandate."


Gigaba was speaking at a policy dialogue with civil society on the
green paper on International Migration in Doornfontein on Friday. The
green paper contends that it is neither desirable nor possible to stop
international migration.


International migration is a natural, largely positive phenomenon
which, if well managed, can and will make a crucial contribution to
growing our economy and transforming Africa as envisioned in Agenda
2063. The paper sets out core principles to inform the nation`s
management of international migration.


"We must manage international migration in a way which promotes human
rights, advances the National Development Plan, takes into
consideration our circumstances and resource constraints, and ensures
all persons residing in South Africa - citizens and foreigners alike -
are and feel safe.


"What must immigrants do for South Africans to realise the positive
role, contribution and impact they can have on South African society
in terms of development, security and the rule of law, social cohesion
and integration?" he asked.


Genuine refugees have been disadvantaged by economic migrants using
the asylum-seeker system to regularise their stay in South Africa.


"Because our system is based on administrative justice and
careful attention paid to each request for asylum, our asylum-seeker
management system has come under huge strain. Genuine refugees have
accordingly suffered long waits for status determination," the
minister said.


He added that while his department had implemented operational
improvements to bring down the waiting times, policy intervention was
long overdue.


"The policy seeks to implement a more rational asylum-seeker
management system based on our assessment of required improvement, as
well as international best practice. It also seeks to make the
asylum-seeker process less attractive to economic migrants," Gigaba
said.


"Broadly, it proposes to process the claims of asylum seekers closer
to the ports of entry where asylum seekers enter the republic, at
designated processing centres. I want to emphasise that these are not
detention centres, and we are not proposing an encampment policy.


"Processing centres are centres where asylum seekers will be
accommodated during the status determination process and they will be
open to civil society for observation and provision of basic services
to asylum seekers," he said.


The rationale is that as soon as an asylum seeker enters the country,
three things should be accomplished: their identity should be
established definitively as often they may not have identity
documents; it must be determined whether they should be recognised as
refugees within a prescribed period of weeks or months; and lastly,
they must be provided with food, shelter, and any required health care
or social services.


"The new policy does not intend to irrationally limit the freedom of
movement for all categories of asylum seekers," Gigaba said.