‘A response to fear’: Expert gives grim warning on treatment of undocumented foreigners
· Citizen
An immigration expert has questioned the government’s handling of undocumented foreigners that are being repatriated from the country in massive groups.
Almost more than 10 000 Malawian nationals are being housed at Sherwood Hall in KwaZulu-Natal after being displaced from their homes in the province. Last week, more than 3,000 Malawians were reportedly deported from the country at the Beitbridge border post.
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These come amid anti-illegal immigration marches in the country that have sometimes turned volatile and violent, and a deadline for illegal immigrants to leave the country by 30 June.
A crisis response to fear
The deportations have sparked heated debate over the government’s handling of immigration and undocumented foreigners.
Immigration expert Stefanie de Saude Darbandi told The Citizen the situation had deteriorated quickly.
“We’re talking about thousands of people, including children, ending up in makeshift camps like Sherwood Hall in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, in winter, simply because the system around them collapsed faster than anyone could manage it humanely,” de Saude Darbandi said.
She added that these immigrants are leaving out of fear of what might happen if they stay in a place where they are not welcomed.
“That’s not a migration policy outcome, that’s a crisis response to fear.” She emphasised.
It is not ‘voluntary’
De Saude Darbandi added that most of these repatriations are described as “voluntary”, but voluntary in the sense that people are choosing to leave because they are scared, not because due process has run its course on their individual cases.
“There’s a real difference between the state lawfully enforcing the Immigration Act after proper process and people fleeing en masse because of intimidation linked to the 30 June deadline,” she added.
However, she has noted that the actual processing of repatriations, verification, biometrics, and coordination with foreign missions, conducted by the Border Management Authority (BMA), does appear to be happening in an orderly and lawful way once people reach the buses or the border.
‘Everyone should worry’
“My concern isn’t with that administrative process,” De Saude Darbandi said, adding that the concerns “are with everything upstream of it”.
She said that the timing of the president’s address earlier this month on immigration risked creating the impression that the government was responding to a privately imposed deadline, rather than continuing reforms it had already committed to.
Although she noted that the address itself was necessary, because South Africans deserved acknowledgement that the system had failed in important ways, speaking “three weeks before an unlawful deadline that a private group had already set, ran the risk of being read as validation of that deadline, rather than government simply continuing work that predates this entire episode by years.”
“That perception matters enormously in a constitutional democracy; government cannot be seen to take its cue from groups who confront people in the street,” she emphasised.
She warned that it sets a precedent that should worry every South African, not just foreign nationals.”
“If a private group can declare its own deadline and intimidate people into leaving with no legal basis whatsoever, that undermines the rule of law for everyone.”
She warned that the same logic used to target foreign nationals today can just as easily be turned against any group tomorrow, which does not solve anything.
“The undocumented people who leave under fear today can simply re-enter once the panic dies down, because the structural issues, a backlogged Home Affairs system, porous borders and corruption haven’t been fixed.”
“So what we’re left with is real human suffering, reputational damage and no actual long-term solution to the underlying immigration challenges.” De Saude Darbandi added.
What happens after immigrants leave SA?
Attempts to get comment from Home Affairs on their repatriation efforts have been unsuccessful at the time of publishing. Any response will be included once received.
When asked about the process after they reached the Zimbabwean border, Mmemme Mogotsi, Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Communications and Marketing from the Border Management Authority (BMA), told The Citizen that the BMA simply processed the immigrants on the buses as normal.
“But as to what happens when they cross the border, it’s something that the border management wouldn’t know,” she said.
De Saude Darbandi believes that some undocumented foreigners may return.
“Some will return, particularly those with family or established ties here, once the climate settles.”
“Others won’t, and that has real consequences for both countries, but I think the bigger story here is what this moment says about South Africa to the rest of the world and to ourselves,” she noted.
Where it actually started
“What I think is being lost in all of this is where it actually started.”
De Saude Darbandi attributed the country’s frustrations to high unemployment rates, the strain on public services and crime that affects everyone in the country, including citizens and foreign nationals.
“But somewhere along the way, the conversation got completely sidetracked.”
“Instead of talking about why unemployment is so high or why service delivery is failing, the entire national conversation for weeks now has been about foreign nationals,” she said.
De Saude Darbandi said that the root issues have not moved an inch, which shows how little trust people have left in the government to fix them, leading them to take matters into their own hands.
“Ironically, even that energy has now been diverted away from holding government accountable on jobs and services and onto a target that was never the actual cause,” she added.
No justification for violence
De Saude Darbandi emphasised that nothing justifies intimidating, assaulting or threatening people regardless of your views on undocumented migration.
“Those who are inciting or carrying out violence against foreign nationals need to be held fully accountable under the law. There can be no tolerance for that, regardless of anyone’s documentation status,” she said.
DA spokesperson on Home Affairs, Adrian Roos, shared this sentiment, telling The Citizen the country must be governed by the rule of law.
“People who are in the country legally should have their rights protected. Where individuals are found to be in South Africa unlawfully, the law must be enforced through proper legal processes conducted by the state,” Roos said.
“Equally, we do not support vigilantism, intimidation, or any actions that force people to flee communities out of fear. Immigration enforcement is the responsibility of lawful authorities, not private individuals or groups.”
A sad reality and bad reflection
De Saude Darbandi said that it is genuinely sad to see that people feel unsafe, “because South Africans are warm, generous people”.
“This is the rainbow nation. Foreign nationals have always found welcome and community here.”
De Saude Darbandi also pointed out that most of the reforms the government has now announced (the new White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection, the National Labour Migration Policy, the Employment Services Amendment Bill) are not new.
She emphasised that these were already on the table and were not created in response to the protests of the 30 June deadline.
‘The government should properly govern’
De Saude Darbandi said that what should be happening instead is straightforward, if government has the will to do it.
“Visible, lawful enforcement against people who are genuinely undocumented, paired with equally visible action against anyone inciting or carrying out violence; honest, repeated public communication that the 30 June date has no legal force and a real commitment to fixing the backlogs and corruption within Home Affairs that created so much of this frustration in the first place.”
“More broadly, South Africa needs an immigration system that makes legal entry and residence straightforward, while ensuring that illegal entry and unlawful residence are addressed efficiently, fairly and humanely.” Roos said.
She said that none of that requires mob justice.
“All of it requires government to actually govern,” she stated.