SA Migration International

News Articles

Detention of nine Zim nationals lawful, says home affairs

Source: The Citizen –, 16/09/2016

The detention of nine Zimbabweans who were returning to their home
country in a minibus taxi last month was lawful, as they were
undocumented, the department of home affairs has said.

The nine "illegal foreigners", arrested on August 21, are being held
in De Aar, in the Northern Cape. They were told they would be kept for
up to three months and then transferred to Lindela Repatriation Centre
in Gauteng.

Home affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni said yesterday the
Zimbabweans had to be arrested in order to obtain documents to deport
them.

"We must first go to the embassy of the country they claim to come
from and the Zimbabwean government has to give us a certificate
confirming they are nationals of the country.

"Their country of origin needs to issue a one-way document for them to
cross the border.

"One cannot leave the country without those documents," he told The
Citizen on the sidelines of Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba`s tour
of the Marabastad refugee reception office in Pretoria.

The nine Zimbabweans have been held at Hanover Police Station in the
Northern Cape for the past three weeks. Apleni said the length of
their stay there depended on how long it took to process the
documents.

"Unfortunately, there is no Zimbabwean embassy or consulate in the
Northern Cape, they are only in Gauteng and Cape Town.

"Embassy [staff] will need to go to De Aar to identify all nine of
their citizens to confirm that they are indeed from Zimbabwe.

"We can`t allow them to go to Zimbabwe without being assured that they
are indeed from there." Apleni said.

He said the nine could be taken to Lindela Repatriation Centre in the
interim to "protect" them.

"Lindela is operating well and the Human Rights Commission has an
office space to work from there.

"As the department, we inspect the centre often. It can accommodate a
maximum of 3 500 foreigners at a time." he said.

Meanwhile, Gigaba`s visit to the Marabastad Refugee reception office
was to assess progress on renovations and the implementation of a new
paperless system.

The new system operates from an automated asylum-seeker kiosk that
captures refugees` fingerprints and books an appointment for them with
the department of home affairs.

The system will be fully operational by November and will stop
corruption, Gigaba said.

"Anyone who enters the centre will enter on the basis of the online
booking, meaning their fingerprints have been captured.

"The applicant will be provided with a date and time of interview and
capturing of data. If they do not have their fingerprints captured,
they will not be able to access the centre.

"This will avoid corruption and bribery, as they won`t have access to
officials," said Gigaba.

The paperless system would be rolled out throughout the country and at
border posts over the next five years.

Search

Latest News

This was revealed in the 2025 Easter border operations report, which saw border management authority officials, saps officers and home affairs workers intensify efforts to prevent illegal travel into the country over the holiday period.JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwean nationals have been identified as the leading individuals attempting to illegally gain entry into South Africa.... Read more...

THE High Court has nullified the re-registration of a birth certificate for a child born out of wedlock, ordering the Registrar-General to strike it from the records.This ruling declared the birth certificate invalid, questioning the legality of attributing paternity to a deceased man decades after his death.The dispute arose from a contested inheritance involving the late Lazarus Mkuduâs estate.Teresiah Mkudu, the applicant, sought a declaratory order to invalidate Ruvimbo Manyondaâs birth certificate, issued nearly 20 years after Mkuduâs death.... Read more...

Residents from 34 countries can now apply for a visa to South Africa online. There are now 34 countries that can apply for a visa to South Africa online, which National Treasury says will help attract more tourists and skills into the country.This was trumpeted in Wednesday`s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) as being one of the key successes of Operation Vulindlela. Operation Vulindlela is a joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury to assist in the acceleration of critical reforms needed to accelerate the economy.... Read more...