36/1/4/1/201100283
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 630
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 25 NOVEMBER 2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 39- 2011)
Date reply submitted: 13 December 2011
630. Mr D V Bloem (COPE-FS) to ask the Minister of Police:
(1) Whether the SA Police Service has been involved in the (a) arrest and
(b) handing over of the migrant labourers who (i) have been denied
their wages by (aa) farmers and (bb) employers and (ii) are being
deported without receiving their wages as a result of being illegal
immigrants; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, how
frequent are these occurrences;
(2) whether the SA Police Service has identified any employers or farmers
who have repeatedly conducted the same practice; if not, what is the
position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) whether the SA Police Service will take any steps to keep a record of
(a) employers implicated in such practices and (b) the number of (i)
arrests and (ii) deportations of such nature; if not, why not; if so,
(aa) what steps and (bb) what are the further relevant details?
CW775E
REPLY:
1) (a)(b)(i)(aa)(bb) and (ii) The South African Police Service does not
keep specific record of the number of migrant labourers who have been
denied wages by their employers before being deported. The South
African Police Service will only have records of migrant labourers
whose wages were denied, if a case has been registered in this regard.
However as cases are registered on standard crime codes, it will not
be possible to determine which cases recorded on the system correlates
to instances where a migrant labourer, who has also been arrested and
deported, has been denied his or her wages.
The South African Police Service is however involved in the arrest of
undocumented migrants on farms, or otherwise, and will investigate
individual complaints that are brought to the attention of the Police
through existing and approved investigation channels.
Appropriate actions will further be instituted against any employer in
accordance with applicable legislation, including farmers, that
employs undocumented migrants.
2) See comments as per (1).
3) (a)(b)(i)(ii)(aa) and (bb) Our records only capture information in
respect of crimes committed when reported or identified through police
action. SAPS database is intended to capture information of crimes
committed and the basis or point of departure is the crime, not a
specific category of offenders. Hence we would not keep a database of
employers who commit offences, but a database of crimes.
Reply to question 630 approved by the Minister