Media reports following discussions in the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs create the impression that I
am endeavouring to create some kind of "special force"
under my control, responsible for border control. The Portfolio
Committee is currently debating the Immigration Bill. This
misrepresentation requires clarification.
About fourteen organs of the State currently carry
responsibilities in respect of Border Control. For decades, there
have been conflicts, turf wars and dysfunction among some of the
main players involved in Border Control and functions at the
points of entry. For years, there have been attempts to create
ways in which some degree of informal integration could take
place, without notable success. The underlying issue that the
Immigration Bill attempts to address is which of the many
agencies involved in this process should be "the leading
agency". It does not ascribe sole responsibility to Home
Affairs. The Bill endeavours to bring the badly needed
integration into the process of Border Control. The degree of
integration is not decided in the Bill. In terms of clause 59
this integration can only be brought about through the total
agreement of the other organs of State involved. If there is no
agreement, the situation stays as it is.
Cabinet discussed this matter at length and reached the decisions
embodied in the Bill, which reflected those approved by Cabinet
two years earlier in the White Paper. Therefore, the regulation
of Border Control is a Cabinet policy decision, not my personal
or ministerial intention.
It should therefore be clear that through the Immigration Bill, I
am not attempting to establish any "special force"
under my control but am simply endeavouring to bring some order
into the current fragmented system of Border Control.
The country should ask itself which Department should be legally
in charge of controlling the borders to prevent illegal
immigration and arrest those who cross our borders illegally.
Constitutionally this function cannot be exercised by the SA
National Defence Force and, at present, it would be difficult for
it to be carried out by an overstretched South African Police
Service. Once the responsibility is vested in Home Affairs, our
Department may enlist the assistance of the SANDF and the SAPS.