‘R52m on deportation is a waste, document migrants instead’: Zimbabwe's Hopewell Chin'ono

Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin'ono believes documenting illegal immigrants in South Africa is a long-term solution to address immigration problems.

Recent figures show almost R200m was spent to deport 83,731 illegal immigrants since January 2022, with R52m spent between April and August to deport 19,750 people.

Chin'ono argues this expenditure is a “waste of money” as deported immigrants are likely to return to South Africa. He suggested documenting illegal immigrants would solve several issues, including unemployment. Some South Africans have been complaining about foreigners “taking their jobs”, often due to companies exploiting cheap labour by undocumented workers.

“The only way out, to help South African workers who refuse to work for a pittance in restaurants, and rightly so, is to legalise those already in South Africa so the authorities know who they are,” he said.

“Implement regulations ensuring these workers can be employed and pay taxes, but also make sure jobs must be offered to South Africans first. They do that in Zimbabwe with the little jobs available, and that is standard practice the world over.

“Where no South African is willing to take up the job, it can be offered to a documented migrant who will be paying taxes.”

He said it would be easier to negotiate better wages for South Africans and documented immigrants.

“When illegal immigrants are documented and have bank accounts they will begin to pay taxes and can also become entrepreneurial, creating businesses that will employ more South Africans and contribute to economic growth.”

He added documenting illegals and gathering their biometric data will also reduce crime, as undocumented immigrants could commit crimes without being identified.

Zimbabwe tops the list of countries with illegal immigrants in South Africa, with more than 7,000 Zimbabweans deported in 2022/2023.

Chin'ono criticised politicians for using the issue to win votes without offering practical solutions.

“In this heated emotional debate in South Africa no real solutions are proposed because opportunistic politicians simply shout 'abahambe', get some votes and repeat the same to remain relevant in public discourse.

“It is funny how it is so easy to appease voters with such empty slogans that do not bring any tangible solutions, but the desperate voter is fickle, they fall for anything.

“What these politicians do not say, or choose to ignore, is when these illegals go they will return the next day. It is an inconvenient conversation for politicians because it undermines their ability to mobilise votes.

“This crisis can’t be resolved through political rhetoric or 'abahambe' or empty pan-African slogans which ignore the realities. Real leaders provide practical solutions and don’t do it for social media retweets or likes, but for solid and long-term resolutions that will fix the crisis.”

He believes documentation would facilitate border control and provide a comprehensive approach to managing immigration.

“These illegal immigrants are deported on a Monday and by Friday they are back. This is known as the revolving door.

“The border officials are so corrupt they facilitate this revolving door because they profit from it, so you cannot use immigration control to deal with this on land borders where people come by road.

“Some illegal immigrants do not even leave South Africa because the police who arrest them will also accept bribes.

“Refusing to document illegals, hoping deportations will solve the problem demonstrates incompetence and ignorance about how illegal immigration works. It is easy to control the border when you have cleaned up the existing problem. It requires men and women in leadership with a spine.”

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