Home affairs, please help Joburg

Mayor Mashaba has tried in vain to engage the department to help deal with immigration in the city.

President Jacob Zuma pictured greeting home affairs officials during a site inspection of the newly revamped Marabastad refugee centre in Tshwane, 17 February 2017. The centre has been renamed to the Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre. Picture: Refilwe Modise

If the department of home affairs fulfilled its responsibilities, Johannesburg and South Africa would be better off.

Home affairs is the weakest link when it comes to dealing with hijacked buildings and displaced people in cases where foreign nationals predominate.

Let’s distinguish between xenophobic prejudice and humanitarian concern. It is wrong to assume that every mention of foreign nationals denotes xenophobia.

Thousands of foreigners in Johannesburg live in appalling, inhumane conditions. That should not happen.

In a radio interview this week, executive mayor Herman Mashaba said 80% of the people occupying hijacked buildings in the city were foreigners.

Some were here illegally. A similar pattern can be observed in displaced communities living in city parks.

For example, more than half of the 172 Lesotho nationals interviewed last year in George Lea Park (corner of William Nicol and Sandton Drive) had no documentation at all. Not only were they breaking municipal bylaws, they also contravened national legislation such as the Immigration Act, and the National Environmental Management Act, among other transgressions.

Who should deal with this, and how? It is beyond the scope of municipal government to cope with these issues without assistance.

Johannesburg doesn’t have the budget, or the administrative authority, or the capacity to cope with large numbers of foreigners living here illegally.

On its own, with an inherited housing backlog of more than 300 000 units, the city cannot accommodate all these people. Nor can it police all national laws.

At least three national government departments should be involved: home affairs; international relations and cooperation; and safety and security (SA Police Service).

The governments of neighbouring countries should also contribute. In practice, our national departments do not help.

Home affairs’ official mission statement includes “the regulation of migration to ensure security, promote development…”

There is no evidence of this mission being pursued in Johannesburg.

Mayor Mashaba has tried in vain to engage former home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba, and the current incumbent, Hlengiwe Mkhize, to help deal with immigration in the city.

There’s more than party politics at play. Lack of involvement by national government did not start when the DA-led administration took over the city in August last year.

It’s been going on for decades. The 85 affected buildings identified so far were not hijacked overnight. Uncounted thousands of people did not suddenly appear in our public open spaces.

These are legacies bequeathed by the previous Johannesburg administration. Now at last we have a mayor who has repeatedly demonstrated, in word and deed, a firm resolve to tackle these problems.

Given the right framework, private enterprise can help fix or replace dilapidated buildings, create jobs and boost Johannesburg’s economy.

But sustainable progress requires home affairs to step forward and play its self-declared role of regulating migration “to ensure security, promote development”.

That would benefit all South Africans.