South Africa is set to tighten its grip on who it allows inside its borders as displaced people, vowing to correct the “loose laws” that have permitted an overwhelming influx of asylum seekers.
If the proposed changes pass in parliament, the department of home affairs will be able to enforce the “first safe country” principle, which will disallow migrants who have been granted asylum in another country or passed through other safe countries to make South Africa their destination of choice.
Home affairs deputy minister Njabulo Nzuza told the Sunday Times the department welcomed the cabinet’s approval of the revised white paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection, and was confident this piece of legislation would change the face of illegal immigration in South Africa, which has become a national crisis.
Crucially, the revised white paper seeks to change how South Africa grants asylum and carries out refugee management.
“[These amendments are] designed to combat the phenomenon of applicants ‘picking and choosing’ South Africa as their preferred destination to claim asylum, [after having passed] through other safe countries [along] the way,” Nzuza said.
“You can’t just arrive [in South Africa] after crossing about five [or] six countries and then say South Africa is your safest country. If you are running away from persecution — whether it be for your religious beliefs or [as a result of] war — you [must] run to the nearest safest country. [We will no longer tolerate] this thing of [asylum seekers] flying from Nigeria or Pakistan [and then] landing in Mozambique, [before walking into] South Africa. Your first safe country was Mozambique. That’s where you first landed, [and] you were safe there.
If you don’t first fix the laws and policies that encourage people to want to live in the country illegally, you are fighting a losing battle — Njabulo Nzuza, deputy minister of home affairs
“Now we can deny you entry at the border because South Africa was not your first safe country.”
The first white paper on immigration, citizenship and refugee protection was approved by the cabinet in April 2024, during the country’s sixth administration.
The review has since been canvassed across all nine of the country’s provinces and was taken to the cabinet for approval last week. It will make its way to parliament as a proposed bill and will be subject to public consultation.
Nzuza reflected on the legal framework adopted in South Africa after 1994 that has caused the illegal immigration problem.
“At the core of it, when we created our legal environment in 1994, we lacked experience and didn’t know how negatively those laws would impact the country. When we thought about immigration, we thought about the world visiting South Africa. We never thought about people coming to South Africa to commit crime, [and] we never thought that [such an influx would create] a burden in terms of our fiscus, [and] in terms of our health-care [system] and [other] services.
“We crafted our laws [in such a way] that South Africa ended up being a pulling country — meaning it attracts a lot of immigrants [from] across the world.”
Nzuza emphasised that the legislative review was to ensure the department promoted legal migration and made it impossible for people to abuse the country’s laws.
“People come into the country illegally,” he said. “Once they are here and you catch them and want to deport them, they say they are seeking asylum. Because our laws say that we cannot deny people entry into the country when they are seeking asylum, we then have no [legal basis for deporting them]. Now the white paper review says a person must show good cause [as to why he or she should remain in the country], [and it is no longer] automatic that we must keep [that person] because [he or she is] already in the country.”
According to Nzuza, the greatest spike in asylum seekers entering the country occurred during the global financial crisis in 2008/09.
“[Many people] saw the country as a safe haven for economic purposes, and the majority of these people then abused the refugee protection and asylum seeker regime to come here as economic migrants. You’ll find that [out] if you go to a person in a township and ask him or her why he or she is running a tuck shop there. The person will say he or she is an asylum seeker. That person is therefore in the country legally.
“We are trying to fix that, so that when people come into the country illegally we are no longer forced to give them these permits. We are just making sure we are promoting regular migration and stopping the abuse of our immigration laws.”
Nzuza said the abuse of the country’s lax laws had produced an odd progression system, which should never have been allowed.
“You’d have someone saying he or she has been living in this country for 10 years and therefore deserves to be given citizenship. A person will come in as an asylum seeker, for instance, and then that person will say he or she needs to be declared a refugee. After some time, that person wants to be made a permanent resident and will thereafter demand citizenship.”
The department is also seeking to bring in a quota system, to introduce objective criteria for citizenship applications. These will be reviewed by an advisory panel.
Nzuza said the move would incorporate a points-based merit system to determine citizenship, and not simply rely on the number of years a foreigner has resided in the country.
“We want to introduce a window period — perhaps the period between January and March — [within which] those people [can] apply each year. The decision [whether or not they] qualify will be based on their contribution to the country — for example, to the economy — and on whether their existence [in the country] is positively impacting development.
“[The new system would be entirely different from] what is happening now — when you wake up each day to find there is yet another new application, further clogging the system and opening it up to abuse.”
Nzuza said it was crucial for legislation to be reviewed and updated.
“A lot of people are fixated on those who are already in the country illegally. But if you don’t first fix the laws and policies that encourage people to want to live in the country illegally, you are fighting a losing battle. This white paper is really at the core in our fight against illegal immigration.”
Nzuza said home affairs deports persons who are illegally in the country on a daily basis, but deportation is futile if the legislation that governs the work of the department remains outdated and vulnerable to manipulation.
“You can be seen to be acting and deporting people, but if you don’t fix the real issue — which is policy — then you are not making the impact you ought to be. We need to see results in the long run.”
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