Gayton McKenzie’s plan for Home Affairs amid coalition negotiations

“Abahambe” is a catchphrase that initially earned Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie scorn, and later supporters who translated into votes.

The PA’s campaign on the deportation of undocumented foreigners, among other factors, earned the party sixth spot on the election results board. They received 330,425 of the country’s votes, compared to the 7,029 they received in the last election.

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McKenzie said he plans to deliver on his promises and will make sure to put that on the coalition negotiation table.

Highly unlikely to negotiate with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), McKenzie told Newzroom Afrika his party had already met with the African National Congress (ANC).

“It was not a very long meeting because they opened the meeting by saying they are looking for three types of governments. They looked at our results and figured we might be able to play a significant role,” said McKenzie.

“The meeting was jovial. We will meet on Thursday after they have discussed which type of government they want. We couldn’t tell them what we were looking for because they had not yet decided what kind of government they were looking for.

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“They were intentional about what they wanted to achieve. We also didn’t come with arrogance. We want to achieve the best for our people and the country.”

McKenzie’s home affairs plans

McKenzie said the PA is hoping to be part of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

“We hope to get the minister of Home Affairs because we campaigned on that ticket. If we do not get that, I will not be going to parliament,” said McKenzie.

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McKenzie said although Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi was trying to fix the department and the fraud involved in the issuing of passports and ID documents to undocumented foreigners, more needed to be done.

“What I’ve realised is that the war here in South Africa, what makes the ANC’s or Aaron Motsoaledi’s fight null and void is the fact that these people are all lawyered up,” said McKenzie.

McKenzie’s has a plan that involves various stakeholders.

“All these undocumented foreigners have lawyers on standby. I want to start different lobby groups and I will be spending my time doing that.

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“So when they go to court to stop people from being deported, I want to be able to… because at the moment, we have none of that.

“You’ve got the Helen Suzman Foundation… We want to start foundations because we did a campaign on that ticket. We can’t change now that we have nine seats, people gave us a mandate and that’s our mandate,” said McKenzie.

“We’ve done well and we’ve got to show value to our voters.”

25 travellers deported at OR Tambo

Meanwhile, the Border Management Authority (BMA) announced on Wednesday that it intercepted 25 travellers who were trying to enter the country illegally at the OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday night.

Of the 25 travellers, 13 Bangladeshis and three Pakistanis were found to have fake visitor visas. One Bangladeshi, a Nigerian, three Pakistanis and four Ghanaians failed to meet the relevant entry requirements on arrival.

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“These travellers were intercepted on flights from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ghana and Nigeria. They were deported back under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations.”

According to the BMA, the airlines that ferried them bear the costs for the deportations.