A Zimbabwean woman travels through a hole in the border fence while illegally entering South Africa from Zimbabwe. (John Moore/Getty Images)
In a letter to the Home Office, former President Thabo Mbeki criticized Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi's White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection and called for improvements.
In the letter I saw email and guardian In a statement dated January 31, Mr Mbeki pointed to inconsistencies and “very serious omissions” in the White Paper (WP) that “make it impossible for our people to make the constructive comments asked by ministers. ” he said.
“This document has not been written in a way that would empower members of the public, not members of the DHA (Department of Home Affairs), to make meaningful comments on issues of vital importance. I therefore humbly accept the above comments. and other comments, and suggested that the draft WP should be improved and republished for public comment.”
Mr Motsoaledi announced the publication of a white paper in November calling for a review of the country's laws on nationality and immigration.
The paper was submitted for public comment in January. He also called for South Africa to withdraw from international conventions on refugee protection.
The report recommends that governments review or withdraw from the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Conventions, which govern certain aspects of refugee issues in Africa. did.
Refugee law prohibits the refusal of entry, deportation, and extradition of asylum seekers and refugees.
As reported by TimesLIVE, Mr Mostoredi deals with people who may enter South Africa who require citizenship in order to avail themselves of benefits, rights and privileges. states that there are insufficient resources to do so.
“The United States, Canada, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are highly developed countries with resources that far exceed ours, and we have strict immigration and citizenship laws to protect the rights of our people,” he said in November. We are enacting a refugee law.” last year.
Mr Mbeki said in his submission that Mr Mostoredi had failed to allege any flaws in current immigration laws.
Mbeki added that the minister's document also did not indicate what the main features of the completely overhauled immigration system would be, including the features of fundamental changes.
Mr Mostaledi's statement in the newspaper said the intention was to completely overhaul South Africa's immigration system.
“Nowhere in the WP has such a comprehensive policy framework been provided. It is therefore impossible to understand the changes proposed in the WP in any policy context, and it is not possible to understand the changes proposed in the WP in any policy framework. If this does not exist, there is no guarantee that the deficiencies described by the Honorable Minister will not persist.
“The Honorable Minister also says that the WP is in line with international trends in other countries with similar challenges in immigration. The country is also non-trivial, so the WP needs to explain and illustrate this, especially as this can affect our policy options,” Mbeki said.
The former president stated in paragraph 90 of the White Paper that authorities do not know how many illegal immigrants there are in South Africa, while paragraph 103 states that the number of illegal aliens in the country is too large to detect. He questioned what he said was possible. All of them.
“Which one is right? This question is important because various claims about these numbers have been used to justify xenophobic proposals and practices.”
“The real difficulty we face with the current draft White Paper is that it does not include a draft comprehensive policy framework. No details were provided, including any indication of whether the DHA's proposed legislation would be changed.If Congress rejected the DHA's legislative proposal, it did not say what the basis for that rejection was.
“It is stated that Japan must make reservations regarding various international agreements, but it is not stated what those “reservations'' are or why they are made. And when we refer to international trends or actively refer to the practices of other named countries, we do not explain why those trends and practices are good for our country.” Mr Mbeki said.
Human Rights Lawyers is among civil rights groups calling for clarification on the white paper's contents.
