Chairperson, hon members, following the pronouncement that we made last year, we present the Refugee Amendment Bill today for consideration by this House.
We took the decision as part of the work that is being done through the Turnaround Project that, in order to transform and streamline the process for status determination, certain legislation changes will have to be enacted.
The status determination process for persons claiming asylum in South Africa still remains a complex, tedious and contentious issue, both for asylum seekers and for the department itself. This created enormous inconvenience for asylum seekers, as their status remained uncertain for long periods and thus negatively impacted on their socioeconomic livelihoods. As a result of this, many asylum seekers have fallen victim to abuse by corrupt officials and uncaring and abusive employers.
Lack of understanding of the intricacies of the management of international migration within our communities has the potential to turn this issue into an emotive one, as we have seen with the recent spate of xenophobic attacks. Thus the current streamlining process is aimed at improving our system in terms of operational management, quality of determinations, case management, standardised procedures, organisation and technology.
This amendment Bill before you, therefore, is aimed at supporting these initiatives and ensuring that the new systems are in line with the law. It should therefore not be confused with the process for a review of the immigration policy that we referred to during our Budget Vote debate recently. Inevitably, the refugee laws will also be subject to vigorous scrutiny and changes as part of the overall policy review.
The basis for our refugee laws remains the United Nations, OAU and other related international instruments. We are certain that the amendments that we are presenting before you will enhance our capacity and ability to meet our obligations with regard to protection in line with these conventions.
In recent years South Africa has seen an ever-increasing number of asylum applications. The department has faced criticism for the slow pace of status determination, largely due to the systematic weaknesses we have referred to. We also continue to face the difficulty of mixed flows of migrants that create serious problems in our management of migration. These flows include refugees, as well as those who fall into the category of economic migrants who seek employment and to conduct informal trade.
Most of these migrants, however, enter the country irregularly and should they realise the need to regularise their status, they then seek asylum. This has resulted in the clogging up of the asylum system, creating huge backlogs that have made it difficult for us to process genuine cases on time.
We have therefore decided in this amendment to rationalise the number of administrative and appeal entities currently stretching the bureaucracy involved in status determination. The Bill seeks to establish a single Refugee Appeals Authority and provides for greater efficiency and flexibility. Unnecessary overlaps between the functions of the various entities will also be addressed.
During the discussions of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, we have also recognised the need for a fast-tracking provision to expedite longstanding cases. This was also made necessary by our experiences in dealing with the recent Refugee Backlog Project.
Chairperson, I hereby present the Refugee Amendment Bill for consideration by this House. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Speaker, thank you very much for this opportunity.
Santlha ke rata go leboga ba ba tsereng karolo fa re bontshana ka Molaotlhomo o. Se ke se itumelelang thata ke gore tema e e tserweng ke maloko a komiti e bontshitse gore ba itse se re kopanetseng go se siamisa bogolo re lebile bafaladi le tiro e Lefapha la Merero ya Selegae e e dirang go leka go thusa batho ba ba tswang kwa ntle ka makwalo. (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[Firstly, I would like to thank all the people who participated in the process of amending this Bill. Furthermore, I appreciate the efforts taken by members of this committee, I am convinced that they know why we are here, especially how the issue of foreigners is being dealt with and what the Department of Home Affairs is doing to help them to obtain the relevant documents.] Mhaka yikulukumba leyi nga kona hi leswaku, loko hi fika eAlexandra hi kume kuri na vanhu lava humaka eMozambique vo tala ngopfu. Lava va nga kotiki na ku twisisa mhaka ya hina loko hi vulavula hi xilungu. A hi boheka ku toloka hi vulavula Xichangana kuri hi va byela kuri lexi hi xi endlaka ePalamente I yini leswaku hi kota ku va pfuna hi ti "application" ta vona.
Nawu low hi wu pasisaka namuntlha wu nyika Director-General wa Home Affairs matimba leswaku a kota ku pfula ti "refugee centres". Ma tsundzuka kuri eka nkarhi lowu nga hundza ndzi vulavule hi ti "refugee centres" ta "five", ku nga Marabastad, Rosettenville, Cape Town, Port Elizaberth na Durban.
Matimba lawa hi ma nyikaka Director-General hi leswaku a pfuli tinwana ti "refugee centre" ku fana na va Lebombo na Musina laha ku nga na vanhu vo tala lava humaka eMozambique na Zimbabwe va kota ku pfuniwa hi ku tsarisa. Va nga ha fambi mpfhuka wo leha. Sweswi va famba ku hundza 700 kilometers ku suka eMusina kumbe Libombo ku fika ePitori. Loko va fika ePitori va fika va kuma leswaku a va koti ku pfuniwa. Va suka va ta laha Cape Town hikwalaho mi vonaka Cape Town Harbour kuri na matende lawa ya nga tala lahaya handle. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[The most important issue here is that when we arrived in Alexandra we found many people who came from Mozambique. These people could hardly understand our mission due to their incompetence in English. We were obliged to rope in interpreting services to explain our role and responsibilities in Parliament that could also have a bearing on the processing of their applications.
The Bill we are passing today vests the Director-General of Home Affairs with the power to open refugee centres. You will recall that in the past I made mention of five refugee centres, namely Marabastad, Rosettenville, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban.
The powers entrusted to the Director-General provide for the opening of other refugee centres to speed up the registration process in centres such as Lebombo and Musina where there are many foreign nationals from Mozambique and Zimbabwe. And these people will no longer have to travel very long distances. Presently they travel more than 700 kilometres from Musina to Pretoria. On arriving in Pretoria they still do not get help. That forces them to proceed to other cities like Cape Town; hence there are too many tent erections all around.]
Ngoba inkinga enkulu ukuthi laba bantu uma befika laphaya ePitoli bathola ukuthi abakwazi ukuncedwa ngoba indawo iyodwa kuphela. ukusuka eLimpopo kufuneka uhambe ibanga elingamakhulu ayisikhombisa uzofika eMarabastad.
Uma befika eMarabastad baba baningi ngoba amandla oMnyango awakwazi ukubasiza njengoba sesikhulumile nasekuqaleni ukuthi umngcele wethu yiwo owenza ukuthi uMnyango waseKhaya uxineke kakhulu ngoba lababantu baningi kanti futhi uMnyango waseKhaya awunawo amandla.
Bese-ke bayasuka sebeza eKapa. Uma befika khona bahlale laphaya esikhumuleni semikhumbi njengoba ubona sekuze kwakhiwa namatende, manje balala emiqgeni ngamapulasitiki, izimvula ziyanetha kanjalo.
Manje into eyenziwa yilomthetho uzonikeza uMqondisi Jikelele amandla okuthi avule izindawo la kubonakala ukuthi kuyadingeka ukuthi kube nalezo zindawo. Ngaleyo ndlela leyo sithi-ke thina Khongolose ukuzama ukusiza abakhoseli. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[The major problem that these people are facing is that on their arrival in Pretoria they find that they cannot be assisted because there is only one place of operation. And then they have to travel for about 700 kilometres from Limpopo to Marabastad.
When these people get to Marabastad, they find that it is overcrowded because the department does not have the capacity to assist all of them. As we have mentioned earlier, our border is the main reason why the department finds itself in this state, because these people come in large numbers and the department does not have the capacity.
They then move to Cape Town. On their arrival there they stay at Cape Town Harbour and you can see that they have even erected marquees there. They have now resorted to sleeping on the roadsides using plastic bags as blankets, when it rains.
This Bill is going to give powers to the director-general to build refugee camps where necessary. And with this, we as the ANC are trying to help refugees.]
Another issue relating to this Bill is the whole question of entitlement; those rights that we are always talking about. Most of the refugees, those who qualify for refugee status, use red identification documents, which clearly set them apart from South African citizens. Most banks, in fact, reject this document.
So we are saying that as part of trying to harmonise relations and restore the rights of refugees - I'm not talking about illegal immigrants - let us begin to accord them the very same rights that the hon Malusi Gigaba has spoken about.
We are signatories to the UN Convention on Refugees and OAU Conventions on Refugees. I think we must begin to fulfil those entitlements and those commitments that we have made as a state. And we are doing that, because if one looks at health and education, most of our refugees are able to access health and educational facilities. Another problem that we must address is that of employers employing illegal immigrants, because it has led to South Africans saying that refugees are taking their jobs. Employers have found an opportunity to exploit the majority of asylum seekers. If you go to some of our restaurants, to some small businesses and spaza shops in town, you will find that the majority of people that are employed there are foreigners, and that is a fact that we must recognise.
I spoke to the Minister of Labour the other day and told him that it's time that we tightened the screws in this regard. There is nowhere in the world where this situation would be allowed. The immigration law says that anyone who employs an illegal immigrant will be found guilty and will be sentenced to jail without the option of a fine, or something to that effect.
I therefore think that we need to strengthen that arm of government and make sure that the inspectorate of the Department of Labour, together with Home Affairs' immigration officers, are able to enforce the law by making sure that nobody employs an illegal immigrant. Doing this would definitely help prevent the kind of problems that we are faced with. [Applause.]
On that note, I do not want to waste much time. I know that I was given 30 minutes to speak. [Interjections.] I beg your pardon? [Interjections.] Well, the hon member is speaking on behalf of the employers. He says that they don't have a choice, or something like that. [Interjections.] It's fine then, I didn't hear you well.
What we are saying is that this Bill will definitely go a long way towards addressing the challenges that we are faced with. On 20 June, which is Refugee Day, we and the Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs will be hosting a refugee dialogue. This will be an engagement between us and NGOs that are playing a critical role in dealing with issues of refugees.
We have invited a number of departments to come and participate so as to enable us to find a way of dealing with the policy on integration, which is a very fundamental policy of the ANC. There is nowhere else in the world where you will find such a policy.
However, we need to give a little bit of expression to that policy by engaging and making sure that people understand what it is that we are talking about when we speak of integration. It is not integration if you just tell people to go and find a place to stay. There are certain things that we need to fix so that this problem does not occur again.
On that note, I want to thank you very much, members, and I want to thank you, Comrade Naledi, for your wonderful response during question time. We appreciate the kind of leadership we have in Parliament.
Madam Speaker, the DA welcomes the Refugee Amendment Bill which was passed by the committee recently. The two major amendments are: firstly, the creation of the position of the refugee status determination officer at any refugee reception office or any other place designated by the DG. The Refugee Appeal Board will consists of as many people as the DG considers necessary. The chairperson and one other member must be legally qualified.
Secondly, the ID documents given to refugees and asylum seekers will be similar to South African ID documents. The last three figures of the barcode will reflect their status. These are welcome moves and go a long way towards legalising refugees, as the Chairperson has mentioned.
Home Affairs has had a lot of negative publicity recently - probably because South Africa has signed a number of conventions allowing free movement across borders without preparing for the consequences. It has become obvious that this free movement has to be regulated. People must be documented, and that goes for our own people as well. Our borders are extremely porous and not only asylum seekers come through, but also people with bad intentions. We must realise that everyone must have some form of identity document - either from their home country or here.
Allow me to highlight some facts from the Auditor-General's report. The Auditor-General states that as at May 2006 there is a backlog of 97 097 refugee applications. We hope the new Bill will address this backlog.
The Auditor-General further has a problem with the money which is paid to service providers caring for foreigners. Since I have served in the area of social development I equate everything with the child support grant or old age pension. My problem is that service providers are paid R251 per day, which is more than a child support grant for a month. This is paid for each prohibited person up to a maximum of 3 250 people held in a facility.
If my maths serves me correctly, that equates to R7 530 per month per person and yet our own older people are expected to live on R940 per month. When I read this I was hoping that the figures were wrong but the Auditor- General does not make mistakes. Some prohibited persons stay for as long as 157 days. The reason given: "The unco-operative attitude of certain foreign missions". Forgive me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that a foreign mission is responsible to its host country. The second concern that the Auditor-General has is the cost of transport. From my personal experience - I come from a farming community - I have seen people being transported back to Mozambique but before the transport had returned, all the people were back again. Madam Speaker, something is very wrong.
The DA wishes the Director-General well in his turnaround process. He has a mammoth task. I thank you. [Applause.]
Madam Speaker, Deputy Minister, colleagues, the 1998 Refugee Act gives effect to the relevant international instruments, principles and standards relating to refugees or the reception into South Africa of asylum seekers and regulates applications for the recognition of refugee status.
A number of amendments in the Bill before us today deal with the issues of definition and alignment and, in other words, are of a technical nature. We accept these amendments. A matter of importance is the dissolution of the current Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs and the Refugee Appeals Board, which are to be replaced by the proposed Refugee Appeals Authority.
It must be understood when we talk about an appeals authority that if an asylum seeker is denied asylum and appeals to the appeals board for a review and the appeal is declined, he or she then falls under the immigration laws. Now we support this, but obviously we have to wait and see whether it will mean a speeding up of the of process of assessing the status of refugees.
There is continued concern about the processing of asylum seekers, which carries a significant backlog. Now the Minister responded to this and obviously this was recognised by initiating the Backlog Project which we hope will not only clear the backlog but will also ensure that no further backlog will occur.
We were therefore distressed by what appears to be a leaked report by the Backlog Project team in the Mail & Guardian. We would appreciate it if the Minister would comment on this matter before commenting or passing any judgement.
Furthermore, we would attest to the urgent need for more refugee reception centres and seek assurance that adequate funding and skilled staffing requirements are at the top of the agenda. It is also necessary to advise our public to understand our obligation towards asylum seekers and refugees in terms of international conventions signed by South Africa as a state party. It is not only from a legal perspective that we have to inform them, but more importantly, from a humanitarian one.
We feel that if there had been better dissemination of these facts some of the recent outbreaks of violence could have been avoided. South Africa's problems concerning migrations are not unique in our global society. People living without hope of ever achieving a satisfactory lifestyle will always be tempted to migrate towards economically more developed states. At the same time, no country can afford to have tens of thousands of undocumented people within its borders.
With the recent disturbances in Zimbabwe these numbers have increased and it is our duty to ensure that the required facilities to deal with these possible temporary migrants are dealt with as a matter of urgency. We have discussed this matter with many Zimbabweans and the majority of them assured us that they would like to return to their country of origin as soon as there is political stability; so there has to be specific accommodation for our neighbours from the north.
The IFP has carefully considered the amendments and we support the Bill. I thank you.
Madam Speaker, Ministers and colleagues, the ACDP supports this Bill which provides for matters with regard to the establishment of refugee reception offices, the establishment of the Refugee Appeals Authority, clarification and revision of procedures relating to refugee status determination and obligations and rights of asylum seekers. It also provides for unaccompanied foreign children in need of care, in terms of the Children's Act, to be issued with an asylum seeker permit and be assisted by a children's court. Also, a person with a mental disability needing asylum would now be able to be assisted in terms of the Mental Health Act.
Recent violent attacks on foreign nationals, which horrified the nation and the world, focused attention on the plight of foreign nationals and the Home Affairs Department's abominable handling of asylum seekers. A report submitted in March this year by a team charged by the Minister with assessing and addressing the huge backlog in processing asylum seekers reveals that after two-and-a-half years of clearing the 1998 to 2005 backlog, a new backlog of staggering proportions has developed with the influx of refugees since August 2005.
When refugees have no official status or documentation they cannot access jobs, health services or education and are at the greatest risk of xenophobia-related incidents. We simply must find the capacity to respond to the current needs and ensure that we don't have informal settlements forming as refugees are forced to set up camp while waiting for shockingly delayed processes.
The UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance Declaration of September 2001 urged states to comply with obligations under international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law in relation to asylum seekers, refugees and displaced persons.
The report, however, states that the department has been in constant violation of these laws. The ACDP hopes this legislation will improve this situation for asylum seekers and calls for its urgent implementation. The promised policy review is also eagerly awaited. I thank you.
In 2004 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees highlighted that South Africa is home to more than 4,2 million refugees, second to India. Noting this and the recent xenophobic attacks, the MF considers this Bill crucial to both the management and the filtration of refugees into South Africa. We apologise for the barbarism imposed on foreigners in our country, with the assurance that this is not the way of democratic South Africa.
In 1994 we realised that we are a nation of people with global roots and that colonialism and apartheid had formed our country. In 1996 we were proud to be part of this rainbow nation and we were on our way to transformation, unity and democracy.
Is it possible that we have forgotten our past so soon and that we could perpetrate cruel and barbarous victimisation and discrimination? The MF feels it is necessary for us to remind our people of our past and of the past that made us a rainbow nation. We need to go into our constituencies and work on building relationships between communities and refugees who may be resident in our area. The MF gives its full support to the Refugees Amendment Bill. I thank you.
I think it would be incorrect to say that there are 4,2 million refugees in South Africa. These figures are being used to hype up emotions, and the Southern African Migration Project has also been making this point. These figures are unscientific and based on no evidence. I think we need to avoid using them. One of the things that we are doing as part of the turnaround strategy is to ensure that there are standard operating procedures in all our offices. The negative spin-off is that where there have been great improvements in terms of our refugee management systems in Cape Town many people have begun to move from other countries towards the Cape Town office. This creates a serious clogging up of the system as they have to deal with large numbers of people.
Secondly, with the introduction of the smart ID card, there will be one form of identification for all categories of people with status in South Africa, including citizens, permanent residents and refugees. The legislative implications in this regard are being considered.
I want to thank hon Weber for supporting the Bill, even though I think her comments were about something else that we are not discussing today. However, she raised important issues which we will come back to at a later stage.
With regard to a leaked report on weaknesses in the system and a lack of integration in the Backlog Project, we initiated the Backlog Project ourselves because we recognised exactly those weaknesses. The intention of the Backlog Project was to help us to scientifically identify the nature of the problems that we were facing. Therefore, it was correct that the report came to us in the manner that it did and highlighted those issues. There are issues which we are addressing in the turnaround project that we are implementing right now.
So the project was successful because we were able to process 111 000 applications. We are, therefore, dealing with the issues that were raised with regard to the weaknesses in our systems and all of those things. Sixty thousand of the cases that we had to deal with were redundant; they were empty files because the people had applied to more than one office. In some instances it was people who sought to get into the system irregularly, some of them through fraud and some of them by trying to get married. We have dealt with all of those issues and we are satisfied.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees indicated in 2006, when he came here, at the South African refugee policy is among the best in the world. The hiatus though was at the level of implementation - the administration of the policy. That is the matter that we are trying to deal with, amongst other things, through this legislation that we are proposing here.
So it is quite good that we had to introduce these changes in order to be able to improve on the implementation of our policies because, as we indicated ourselves, these problems have created great inconvenience for many of the asylum seekers in our country and have undermined their socioeconomic livelihoods. We would like to thank all the hon members for supporting this piece of legislation and for their constructive comments, many of which will be taken on board even when we begin the process to amend the entire immigration policy. Thank you very much.
Debate concluded.
Bill read a second time.