State weighs up economic impact of immigration enforcement campaign

The South African government is assessing the economic impact of its immigration enforcement campaign, particularly on sectors such as agriculture, tourism and small business. This was revealed byMmamoloko Kubayi, the justice and constitutional development minister and chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration, during a media briefing on Sunday. Kubayi said a task team comprising the departments of trade, industry and competition; agriculture; employment and labour; tourism; higher education; and small business development has been given two weeks to engage industries and determine whether labour shortages have emerged.

“We want to understand what impact this has had on the economy and whether there are skills shortages in particular sectors. We also want to determine whether South Africans can be trained to fill those gaps so that we address unemployment while responding to migration challenges,” she said. Kubayi also revealed that more than 72,900 foreign nationals have been repatriated, 354 criminal cases have been registered, and nearly 29,000 immigration-related court matters have been finalised as the government intensifies its nationwidemigration enforcementcampaign.

According to Kubayi, the figures reflected the impact of coordinated operations involving the police, the Border Management Authority, the home affairs department, the Hawks and other law enforcement agencies. The operations have targeted illegal border crossings, human trafficking syndicates, labour exploitation, fraudulent documentation networks, illegal mining and other criminal activities linked to unlawful migration. Kubayi said 354 criminal cases had been registered against individuals accused of contravening immigration laws, with prosecutions still pending.

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An additional 69 people were arrested in Jeffreys Bay last weekend and appeared in court on Monday. Kubayi said immigration enforcement remained the responsibility of authorised law enforcement agencies. “Government is making it clear that migration management is fundamentally a rule of law matter. Criminality will not be tolerated regardless of who is involved,” she said.

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