The South African government has long been deeply ambivalent about immigration. After wrangling with then home affairs minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who wanted to liberalise entry requirements for highly skilled and well-off applicants, the Cabinet settled for a system which business owners and investors describe as impossibly restrictive and cumbersome, despite its expressed intention of attracting well-qualified immigrants.
At the other end of the wealth spectrum, people fleeing persecution and economic hardship in places like Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe are readily able to get through long, porous borders.
When they do, some of them are even able to get formal asylum seeker status — South Africa is now home to the largest population of asylum seekers anywhere in the world, according to the United Nations. Those numbers are dwarfed, of course, by millions of undocumented migrants.
Despite this relatively welcoming approach, foreign nationals face constant police harassment and the threat of deportation, not to mention the intensely xenophobic sentiments of many in local communities.
The department of home affairs seems to be impaled by a dilemma — it wants to attract skills, act humanely and reciprocate the hospitality shown exiled Struggle movements by other African governments.
On the other hand, it doesn’t trust business to identify its own needs for imported talent, and is desperate to control an influx of poor foreigners that it sees as threatening social stability and alienating the support base of the governing party. The result of this uncertainty has been arbitrary and poorly understood policy.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has been quietly shaking home affairs into shape and, judging by her remarks to the UN, intends to remedy the uncertainty. Unfortunately the amnesty and documentation process for Zimbabweans living in South Africa suggest that the ambivalence continues.
Massive queues, uncertainty over outcomes and the department’s insistence on a very tight schedule suggest that pragmatism is still being outweighed by kragdadigheid. It is time for the minister to paint us clearer picture.