APA-Pretoria (South Africa) South Africa has no mechanism to know how many undocumented migrants are currently living in the country, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has admitted to reporters in Pretoria.
Motsoaledi admitted this when he briefed the media on the “White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration, and Refugee Protection” draft law that his office has drafted on Sunday — and is circulating for public contributions.
The minister said that his ministry, along with Statistics South Africa, could not fully account for how many foreigners were in the country.
“South Africa today is a great place to live, even though some South Africans don’t believe this. But no one can account for all the undocumented migrants” Motsoaledi said.
According to him, his ministry had “no idea as to how many illegal migrants are in South Africa…because there is no mechanism of knowing.”
But this would change once the draft has been made into law, Motsoaledi said.
The draft law aims to provide a framework to guide the granting of residency and citizenship to foreign nationals as well as the protection of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa., he said.
This is in cognisant of the country’s national security interests and in compliance with international agreements and protocols on migration that South Africa was party to, he added.
The draft contained radical proposals that were aimed at overhauling the migration system in South Africa.
NM/jn/APA