{"id":863896,"date":"2026-06-21T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=863896"},"modified":"2026-06-19T15:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:26:07","slug":"major-own-goal-for-south-africa-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/863896\/major-own-goal-for-south-africa-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Major own goal for South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa is scoring a major own goal by failing to properly process migrants and visa applicants who are already trying to regularise their status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa is experiencing a severe immigration crisis, with a massive government crackdown, nationwide anti-migrant protests, and a rise in xenophobic tensions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-migrant groups have issued an ultimatum demanding that all undocumented foreigners leave the country by 30 June 2026, which has led to thousands of migrants fleeing or seeking repatriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Home Affairs system that requires applicants to adhere to strict regulations does not apply the same standards when delivering an efficient service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A government that expects everyone within its borders to comply with the law must remember that it, too, must comply with laws and regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the feedback from Stefanie de Saude-Darbandi, an immigration and citizenship law specialist and independent member of the Immigration Advisory Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in an interview with CapeTalk<\/a>, commenting on the case of a migrant who has been waiting since 2012 for his status to be resolved, de Saude-Darbandi said the problem is both people falling through the cracks and a failing system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She stressed that there are just too many people in similar situations, where many have lived in South Africa for most of their lives and have legal grounds to remain in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHonestly, Home Affairs should be opening its arms, welcoming these people into the country. There\u2019s a constitutional obligation on them to assist these people. But unfortunately, that\u2019s not what we\u2019re seeing,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Saude-Darbandi argued that the department\u2019s own capacity constraints are contributing to the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing figures from the Minister of Home Affairs, she noted that there are only 832 immigration inspectors nationwide and that the country still operates on a paper-based system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, she said thousands of migrants who want to be documented have approached Home Affairs offices only to be stonewalled, with many unable to get assistance despite repeated attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immigration enforcement rests solely with the government<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Stefanie de Saude-Darbandi, an immigration and citizenship law specialist.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

While she praised the current minister\u2019s intentions, saying, \u201cI think we have a good minister. I think his heart is in the right place,\u201d she added that \u201cthey could be doing a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn one hand, they\u2019re saying these people aren\u2019t responsible, it\u2019s the system, and we know that they come forward to ask for help,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut then on the other hand, these are the very same people they\u2019re deporting, not assisting when they try to apply for a visa, and when they go to court, court orders aren\u2019t being complied with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also criticised what she described as a lack of clear communication from the government ahead of growing tensions surrounding migration enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Saude-Darbandi called on the government to provide clear leadership and to make explicit that immigration enforcement rests solely with the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also stressed that inciting violence against migrants is a criminal offence and that those people, too, should be taken to task, not just foreigners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importantly, she argued that many undocumented migrants are not in that position because they deliberately broke the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost foreigners in the country who are not documented are not because they\u2019ve done nothing or they\u2019ve simply overstayed,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s because they\u2019ve applied and they\u2019re stuck in the system for years, going back regularly for updates but not getting anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to de Saude-Darbandi, this administrative backlog has blurred the distinction between genuinely undocumented migrants and those with pending applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She explained that this is why only Home Affairs officials can accurately determine a person\u2019s legal status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnly Home Affairs has access to the system to understand who is in the system, who is not, who has overstayed without an application pending, and who has not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa is scoring a major own goal by failing to properly process migrants and visa applicants who are already trying to regularise their status.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":863905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[17142,25610,853],"class_list":["post-863896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-capetalk","tag-immigration-advisory-board","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":863906,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863896\/revisions\/863906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}