Parliament’s home affairs committees on Wednesday approved the contentious Immigration Bill after a marathon session that ended at 11.30pm when MPs agreed to disagree on key provisions.
The bill, which has been more than four years in the making, will be debated in the National Assembly on Friday and will then go to the National Council of Provinces for adoption.
It was piloted through Parliament by Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who is also Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) President. Buthelezi was unhappy with changes made to the bill during the committee stage and at one stage threatened to withdraw it.
However, it is likely that all political parties will approve the bill, despite privately acknowledging it is deeply flawed.
Both houses of Parliament are under pressure to adopt the bill before the end of the month, to allow President Thabo Mbeki sufficient time to promulgate the measure before June 2, the Constitutional Court deadline for a new immigration law.
Several opposition MPs, including from the Democratic Alliance (DA) and United Democratic Movement (UDM), said they believed the new law would be back in Parliament soon for amendment.
The IFP voted against three key provisions in line with the department of home affairs concerns, despite attempts to reach consensus with the ANC in a series of bilateral meetings aimed at rescuing the bill.
The IFP backed by the DA voted against a re-drafted provision relating to work permits which controversially introduced a quota system at the last minute against the department’s wishes.
Earlier in the day, the Department of Home Affairs objected to the redrafting of the provision, saying it ”represented a fundamental shift of policy, a complete change of the very nature of proposed migration control in South Africa”.
However, the ANC, NNP, UDM and ACDP voted in favour of the quota system.
An ANC amendment to a clause dealing with offences introduced on Wednesday night was only supported by the NNP, with other parties voting against.
However, the ANC’s majority in the committee won the day. The ANC insisted that a key provision relating to the restructuring of the department be dropped from the bill. This was agreed to by the NNP and UDM.
The IFP, DA and UCDP wanted the provision included. Earlier they heard the department express concern that if the provision was deleted it would not be able to speedily implement the legislation.
”Without this clause it is impossible for the department to switch from one system to the other (of migration control) without having to shut down for a considerable period of time, either as a whole or in party, which would be unthinkable,” deputy director-general Ivan Lambinon said.
It should be appreciated that the bill — aimed among other things at attracting foreign skilled labour — did not only bring a large legislative reform, but also a very significant administrative one.
Meanwhile, Business South Africa (BSA) expressed its extreme concern that the country might be faced with an immigration law whose precise nature and import had never been considered by important interest groups.
In a letter to the chair of the National Assembly’s home affairs committee, Mpho Scott, BSA said the new amendments to the bill had not been discussed with stakeholders ”nor dealt with in Nedlac as is clearly intended in our law”.
Wednesday’s committee meeting was noticeably free of the acrimony which characterised previous interactions between the political parties.
Scott said it was a pity consensus had not been reached on all of the bill’s provisions, and that some had gone to a vote. – Sapa