Illegals may get documented

2008-05-29 15:45

Cape Town - Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Thursday indicated that the government might issue identification papers to all illegal immigrants in the country.

Briefing the National Assembly's home affairs committee on the outbreak of xenophobic violence, Mapisa-Nqakula said illegal immigrants posed a serious security threat to the country if they remained undocumented.

"For the security of our country it's important to have a record of everybody in the country. For those who are already in the country government will have to look at various options," she said.

It was difficult for police to track illegal immigrants wanted for crimes because home affairs did not have their records.

"Whether it's temporary permits, or some other form of identification, it is important to have them documented," she said.

She did not say when the process might start, but said the issue had to be looked at once the current xenophobic violence, which has left 25 000 foreigners displaced, had been dealt with.

Raising questions

Government had already declared a moratorium on the arrest and deportation of those illegal immigrants who had been affected by the attacks.

"All those affected by the violence cannot be deported. We cannot further violate their rights by deporting them."

The inter-ministerial team which had been set up by Cabinet to investigate the causes of the attacks had not yet finalised its work.

"We can not say we have a full picture of what really sparked these attacks. It will be premature to provide a report on why South Africa is where it is now," she said.

Asked by Democratic Alliance MP Mark Lowe why she initially said there was a third force involved in the attacks, Mapisa-Nqakula said she had merely posed questions.

"The way things have occurred they have left us all raising questions - in order to find answers you must ask questions.

"We do not know whether it was a third force, but cannot rule that out," she said.

Mapisa-Nqakula, who suggested that poverty was not the cause of the attacks, made it clear that shelters currently being set up for displaced foreigners were only a temporary measure and that government's main objective was to get the victims re-integrated to communities.

Integration policy

"These are temporary shelters while all us are trying to deal with the challenges in our country.

"We have no intentions of setting up permanent refugee camps (since this) would mean we are condoning xenophobia," she said.

Mapisa-Nqakula defended the country's policies on foreign nationals, saying the government's policy of integrating refugees in communities had been "hailed as the best practice" by many other countries.

- SAPA