ActionSA believes that any policy proposal, such as government’s White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection, will fail unless the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is reformed and streamlined.

The public has until Wednesday to make comments on the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection: Towards a complete overhaul of the Migration System in South Africa.

The White Paper aims to tackle challenges related to migration as a result of policy and legislative gaps in the DHA.

However, ActionSA says while there is a need for reforms to the system, it believes the White Paper is nothing more than the African National Congress trying to absolve itself from its role in the country’s “dysfunctional” border management and immigration system.

Following its picketing at the DHA headquarters in Pretoria on Monday, ActionSA called for the DHA to be fixed and streamlined and the party laid out proposed focus areas for the DHA.

“ActionSA maintains that South Africa’s immigration challenges stem from a failed institutional framework and capacity, not solely legislation. We believe that it is possible to secure our borders and to reform our immigration regime, but that would require that South Africans take action to remove the ruling party from government in order for us to secure our borders and fix the Department of Home Affairs,” said party president Herman Mashaba.

He criticised the White Paper for failing to properly tackle skilled immigration into South Africa, which he believes will assist in growing the economy and create jobs.

Mashaba said money should not be spent on “expensive and time-consuming legislative processes which would yield little to no results”.

He also lashed out at the DHA for its apparent inability to deal with complex policy overhauls owing to alleged corruption and mismanagement.

“The White Paper, therefore, fails to address the decay of the Department and the reforms needed to improve its governance. ActionSA believes that, without fixing and streamlining the Department, any policy proposal will fail. ActionSA has, therefore, submitted a list of proposed interventions to DHA which should be the focus of immigration reform,” he said.

These interventions include allowing skilled and capitalised individuals to work and live in South Africa; easing the visa process and removing the need for visas for some countries; fining individuals not legally allowed to work in South Africa; dealing with structural deficiencies in the DHA; expanding the State’s capacity to support asylum seekers, refugees, and vulnerable foreign communities; introducing e-governance processes; and improving intra-governmental cooperation for better immigration management.

ActionSA also proposes collaboration between the country’s Border Management Authority, the police and the army; the introduction of new technology; and an improvement in the deportation process.

“ActionSA has always maintained that South Africa was built on the back of migrants. We want the people of the world to come to South Africa, but they must do so legally. As a party which values the rule of law, ActionSA has long called for stronger measures to be taken to secure our borders while streamlining the visa processing system for tourists and skilled work seekers, amongst others,” Mashaba said.

Written submissions on the White Paper must be made to the DHA on or before January 31, 2024 and should be addressed to the Chief Director: Strategy and Institutional Performance.

Submissions can be hand delivered to the Department of Home Affairs, 230 Johannes Ramokhoase Street, Hallmark Building, Pretoria, 0001, for attention of Mr Sihle Mthiyane; mailed to the DHA at Private Bag X114, Pretoria, 0001; or e-mailed to whitepaper@dha.gov.za.