Home Affairs debates immigration policy with stakeholders

The Department of Home Affairs on Tuesday kicked off a two-day colloquium in Pretoria to deliberate on South Africa’s international migration policy.

The colloquium is a culmination of the work started by the department last year to undertake a total review of the outdated 1999 White Paper on International Migration.

Different stakeholders from the academia, private sector, labour, tourism and other government departments, including the departments of Health and International Relations and Cooperation, are attending.

Opening the colloquium, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said discussions should bring about an inclusive policy on international migration.

“Out of this process, we envisage that a modern, progressive and robust policy on international migration will emerge, taking into account the enormous current and potential contribution of immigrants to our society, and our connectedness with the rest of the world, while minimising associated risks and protecting our national interests,” said the Minister.

He said it was important for a developing country like South Africa to navigate the opportunities and challenges presented by international migration.

Further, for the department to succeed in developing and implementing the new immigration policy, all spheres of government should play a role.

“We cannot achieve this on our own, all the three spheres of government should also play a role especially at local government level because that’s where migrants interact with communities.”

Gigaba said the policy coming out of the discussions should take aspirations of South Africans into consideration. “It must directly engage the average man or woman on the street and address their aspirations.”

Following the two-day colloquium, the department will digest the contributions made by delegates and then begin to deliberate on policy positions.

The Minister said this would subsequently be taken through the Cabinet process. “We will then come back with a draft Green Paper which we will test with yourselves and many other stakeholders.”

The department will host another colloquium on July 23 where labour will be invited to discuss economic migration.