FIDEL HADEBE | Have your say on SA’s immigration and refugee policies

When the apartheid government was replaced by a democratically elected one in 1994, SA rejoined the international community after decades of isolation. The country became a signatory to several international protocols, including those dealing withrefugees, and this placed certain obligations on SA. With the passage of time, it has become clear that SA’s policies and protocols on citizenship and immigration have to undergo a review to ensure a balance is struck between our national interest and international obligations.

SA faces a serious illegal immigration problem that poses a risk to our security, stability and economic progress. This was expressed succinctly in the president’s state of the nation address in parliament recently. This crisis requires honesty, patriotism and constructive participation by all sectors of society.

“This crisis requires honesty, patriotism and constructive participation by all sectors of society.” — Fidel Hadebe The draft revisedWhite Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection (2026) proposes a major overhaul of the migration system to enhance national security, curb abuse, and act as an economic enabler. It comes at a time when the issues of immigration and citizenship have inserted themselves in the national agenda, as seen every year when schools open. During this period, tensions rise between citizens and immigrants over available spaces for pupils, with locals accusing immigrants of taking up spaces that should be allocated to their children.

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This dynamic also plays itself out when it comes to access to health care, where locals believe that those they consider to be in the country illegally are making it difficult for them to access much-needed health care. Civil society organisations have been formed to agitate on this issue and have taken to physically going after those they consider to be in the country illegally and not deserving of access to certain government-provided services. Although it is easy to dismiss these concerns as xenophobic and not worthy of attention, the rising tensions between locals and migrants cannot be ignored because they have the potential to undermine SA’s internal stability, particularly given the ever-increasing competition over resources, services and opportunities.

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