The Institute said this morning that so called “illegal” African immigrants had become a permanent feature of South Africa’s population. The Institute’s deputy CEO, Frans Cronje, estimated their number at between 3 and 5 million and said that, “this makes them equal in number to South Africa’s entire white population”. Cronje said that government policy had to take this into account and should ideally accord some form of legal standing to African immigrants although this risked a further inflow of immigrants. He said that it was not in South Africa’s interests to have an “illegal” population the size of the African immigrant population.

Institute spokesperson on the issue Mapeete Mohale said that such a change in policy would be in the interests of both the immigrants and South African citizens. Legal standing for African immigrants would allow them to be registered and their numbers monitored. It would also allow them easier access to the police and the justice system when their rights were infringed – particularly in cases where such abuses took place at the hands of the police. The police would in turn have a better chance of tracking down those immigrants allegedly involved in crimes. Access to banking and other services would also cut the risks that they were targeted for reasons of robbery. 

Mohale said that negative perceptions of illegal immigrants did not take into account that they were consumers of South African goods and services. Their numbers made them a significant market, particularly in the informal sector. That benefit alone probably outweighed the costs commonly associated with such immigrant populations. Mohale added that in a country short of skills, the teaching qualifications and other skills of particularly Zimbabwean immigrants should be harnessed. 

Mohale emphasized however that their “illegal” status made them easy targets for robbery, violence, and xenophobia.  

On the attacks in Alexandra, Mohale said that the Institute was not surprised that the xenophobia had again reared its head considering the inappropriate nature of policy responses to the fact that African immigrants were now a permanent feature of South Africa’s population.