Speaking notes for the briefing to the media by Home Affairs Deputy Director-General, Jackie Mckay, Arcadia House, Arcadia, Pretoria, July 21 2011

Ladies and gentlemen of the media,  in our weekly  briefing today we will provide an update on our recent efforts to crack down on illegal immigration as well as an update on the Zimbabwe Documentation Project (ZDP).

Efforts to crack down on illegal immigration

As members of the media would be aware, the Constitution entrusts the department with a dual mandate.  In this regard, we are the custodians of the identity of all South African citizens which includes the issuance of birth, marriage and death certificates; identity documents and passports; citizenship; naturalisation and permanent residence certificates. 

Our second mandate deals with effective, secure and humane management of
immigration. In this regard, our work is governed by the Immigration Act of 2002. By working together with other law enforcement agencies, we are able to ensure that all South Africans are and feel safe.

Operation Full Force

In this regard, the Department of Home Affairs Inspectorate, together with the South African Police Service (SAPS) Hawks Unit conducted operation Full Force which was a nationwide sting operation on Wednesday, 13 July 2011. 

This was aimed at cracking down on the illegal facilitation of foreign nationals into South Africa using fraudulently acquired documents with a view to stemming the tide of illegal immigration into the country. The operation was conducted at the offices of a Chinese IT company ZTE in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban.

Johannesburg

Following a screening of documents, eight (8) Chinese nationals were found to be in contravention of our immigration laws and were voluntarily deported on the same day.

Cape Town

Five (5) Chinese nationals were arrested for failing to comply with the conditions of their permits in terms of the provisions of section 49(6) of the Immigration Act, 2002.

Port Elizabeth

The passports of eight (8) Chinese nationals were seized for further investigations.

Limpopo

In a separate operation carried out in Limpopo at the weekend by our Inspectorate Unit,working together with State Security and the SAPS Hawks Unit, three (3) Pakistani nationals were arrested in terms of our Immigration Act for being in the country illegally.

Investigations are continuing and should Home Affairs officials be found to be complicit in these incidents, they will face the full consequences. These arrests communicate the unequivocal message of the Department's commitment to ensuring that fraud and corruption in all its manifestations is addressed while the perpetrators face the full might of the law.

Update on the Zimbabwe Documentation Project (ZDP)

The department had announced in February this year, following consultations with the Zimbabwean government that the adjudication of permits from undocumented Zimbabwean nationals will be finalised by the end of July 2011. At the end of December 2010 we had received 275 762 applications for documents.

With a week to go, we are firmly on track to meeting our target to conclude the adjudication of applications. In this regard,

Status of applications

Applications received: 275 762
Applications adjudicated: 273 514
Applications pending: 2 248
Permits issued: 133 810

We are aware that many Zimbabwean nationals are concerned that they may not yet have received their permits. As indicated above, one hundred and thirty three thousand, eight hundred and ten (133 810) permits have been issued.

As we have previously indicated, we will conclude the adjudication of the applications by 31 July 2011 and we will finalise all outstanding matters in August 2011. This will allow us sufficient time to dispatch all the required permits.

We take this opportunity to reiterate that the initiative to document all Zimbabwean nationals in the country has been undertaken in full consultation with the Zimbabwean authorities including the Zimbabwean stakeholder forum members consisting of Zimbabwean organisations operating from South Africa. We therefore continue to count on their support to ensure we can bring this project to its logical conclusion.

Statement issued by the Department of Home Affairs, July 21 2011

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