News / Africa
Get legal or Go: Zuma
28 Dec 2010 at 17:31hrs | Views
Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has appealed to thousands of undocumented Zimbabweans who have been denied study, work and business permits, to "go
home before they are deported after the December 31 deadline.
In an interview with The New Age, Dlamini-Zuma warned that if undocumented Zimbabweans did not apply before the deadline, they would most certainly face deportation.
She appealed to more than 5000 Zimbabweans whose applications have been refused, especially those who have a criminal record or are unemployed, to go home.
"If somebody doesn\'t have a job and they are not running from persecution from their country, if they can live in South Africa without a job it means they can live in Zimbabwe without a job. So why do they want to come here? Why do they want to continue living here if they are not studying? They don\'t have a job and they are not doing any business, they are doing nothing so let them go and do nothing at home, said Dlamini-Zuma.
"They (Zimbabwean authorities) are experiencing serious problems because they can only print 500 passports a day, which is not much and they have a backlog in South Africa of 40?000 applications. They have asked for assistance from us but we are very reluctant to move from the 31st (December deadline) because this is not the first deadline, said Dlamini-Zuma, who reiterated that Zimbabweans had between April 2009 and April 2010 to regularise their stay in South Africa.
She explained why South Africa could not allow unemployed Zimbabweans to stay in the country.
"There are people who leave South Africa to go to other countries (and they) must either be joining their parents, studying, working or have businesses. But you can\'t just say I want to go and live in New Zealand and do nothing, the New Zealanders won\'t allow you to do that.
"That is why we are saying let\'s regularise those people who are doing something. If you have a criminal record why should we keep you here when you have your own home because it means that you have come here to do crime? We don\'t want that and I think it\'s fair, she said.
Dlamini-Zuma said only applications from Zimbabweans who applied before the December 31 deadline would be considered but warned that the department would
not "open the door for anyone else.
Turning to other priorities, Dlamini-Zuma said that while her department had a long way to go to properly offer all services, the department was turning the corner.
Dlamini-Zuma said her major focus next year would be to encourage parents to register their newborn babies on the population register within 30 days and to ensure that everyone got an ID at the age of 16.
"My vision is that we should be able to register at least 90% of new babies within 30 days or within a year, said Dlamini-Zuma, who emphasised that a "proper population register was the answer to her department\'s administrative problems.
She said the department was faced with the "nightmare of providing IDs to adults who were never registered and those who want to change their birth dates.
"An accurate population registers means that we will not have to change people\'s ages for any reason. Some (people) are changing the age (on the ID) because they want to change their identity. They are running away from bad debt and they know that when they change the birth date their ID number changes and they becomes a new person.
Dlamini-Zuma\'s department is also dealing with a backlog of more than 60000 work, study and business permits from foreign nationals. She described the situation with permit applications as "messy and said officials were working late nights to clear the backlogs within three months.
She blamed her department\'s "cumbersome permit application process for slow economic growth.
"Part of the reasons that our economy is not growing is because of scarce and critical skills. It\'s important that we fashion our immigration policy such that it allows those critical skills into the country. We want to simplify the permit process by giving applicants permits that will allow them to stay in the country three to five years, rather than yearly permits, said Dlamini-Zuma.
In an interview with The New Age, Dlamini-Zuma warned that if undocumented Zimbabweans did not apply before the deadline, they would most certainly face deportation.
She appealed to more than 5000 Zimbabweans whose applications have been refused, especially those who have a criminal record or are unemployed, to go home.
"If somebody doesn\'t have a job and they are not running from persecution from their country, if they can live in South Africa without a job it means they can live in Zimbabwe without a job. So why do they want to come here? Why do they want to continue living here if they are not studying? They don\'t have a job and they are not doing any business, they are doing nothing so let them go and do nothing at home, said Dlamini-Zuma.
"They (Zimbabwean authorities) are experiencing serious problems because they can only print 500 passports a day, which is not much and they have a backlog in South Africa of 40?000 applications. They have asked for assistance from us but we are very reluctant to move from the 31st (December deadline) because this is not the first deadline, said Dlamini-Zuma, who reiterated that Zimbabweans had between April 2009 and April 2010 to regularise their stay in South Africa.
She explained why South Africa could not allow unemployed Zimbabweans to stay in the country.
"There are people who leave South Africa to go to other countries (and they) must either be joining their parents, studying, working or have businesses. But you can\'t just say I want to go and live in New Zealand and do nothing, the New Zealanders won\'t allow you to do that.
"That is why we are saying let\'s regularise those people who are doing something. If you have a criminal record why should we keep you here when you have your own home because it means that you have come here to do crime? We don\'t want that and I think it\'s fair, she said.
Turning to other priorities, Dlamini-Zuma said that while her department had a long way to go to properly offer all services, the department was turning the corner.
Dlamini-Zuma said her major focus next year would be to encourage parents to register their newborn babies on the population register within 30 days and to ensure that everyone got an ID at the age of 16.
"My vision is that we should be able to register at least 90% of new babies within 30 days or within a year, said Dlamini-Zuma, who emphasised that a "proper population register was the answer to her department\'s administrative problems.
She said the department was faced with the "nightmare of providing IDs to adults who were never registered and those who want to change their birth dates.
"An accurate population registers means that we will not have to change people\'s ages for any reason. Some (people) are changing the age (on the ID) because they want to change their identity. They are running away from bad debt and they know that when they change the birth date their ID number changes and they becomes a new person.
Dlamini-Zuma\'s department is also dealing with a backlog of more than 60000 work, study and business permits from foreign nationals. She described the situation with permit applications as "messy and said officials were working late nights to clear the backlogs within three months.
She blamed her department\'s "cumbersome permit application process for slow economic growth.
"Part of the reasons that our economy is not growing is because of scarce and critical skills. It\'s important that we fashion our immigration policy such that it allows those critical skills into the country. We want to simplify the permit process by giving applicants permits that will allow them to stay in the country three to five years, rather than yearly permits, said Dlamini-Zuma.
Source - TNA
