The dust has hardly settled on reports of a terrorist leader killed in Somalia who was in possession of a fake South African passport, and we are already seeing reports of yet another potential false documentation case, this time situated in South Africa. Last week, 18 Chinese nationals were arrested for allegedly working illegally in South Africa, and possibly for utilising false South African documentation, in a joint operation with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and immigration officials, after authorities received information from members of the public.
According to South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA) spokesperson Manusha Pillai, “The operation was intended to crack down on the illegal facilitation of foreign nationals into South Africa using fraudulently acquired documents. This is in line with Minister Dlamini Zuma and government’s overall commitment to stem the tide of illegal immigration into South Africa utilising fraudulent documents.”
While this statement of intention by the DHA is laudable, what is a serious source of concern is the fact that the people arrested were not merely asylum seekers. They were not merely illegal refugees. They were all employed by ZTE, a prominent telecoms company with nationwide operational influence in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Pretoria. It is alarming that a business entity with this kind of standing in its industry could possibly have flouted the employment and immigration regulations of the country to this extent. What this probably means is that the arrested persons were in possession of false work permits, or that ZTE had been issued with a false corporate work permit in order to employ them. Either way, this is far more serious than mere illegal refugees. The milder alternative, which is that they had no documents at all, does not apply in this case, because they did indeed have documentation. The DHA is currently assesing the documentation to determine whether it is authentic. ZTE is also being investigated for allegedly bringing hundreds more workers into South Africa illegally.
“Government remains committed to ensuring we push back the frontiers of fraud and corruption and will ensure that those complicit in the facilitation of such activities are brought to justice,” Pillai stated.
Only time will tell if this statement will be realised in practice.
This all sounds good and well, but what about the other nationalities which seem to reside illegally in SA with impunity?
A group of Egyptians reside next door to me for the past two yrs and every few months individuals will arrive and remain indefinately. This in itself would be perfectly reasonable if it were not for the fact that without work permits, permanent residence etc they have employment within a month of arrival. I suppose this would classify them in a category other than “legal” but they are most definately not Chinese foreign nationals, so why be concerned??
I know a person that owns a company in Cape Town registered under another persons name, on a VISITORS visa. She is the “owner” and CEO on her website (import, export company) As far as i know it’s illegal to earn a salary on a visitors visa. The company has been trading for 3 years and she has to fly in and out of SA every 6 months to obtain another visitors visa. I believe she only employs people from her country. Where and how can i report this?
Yes lets deport and get rid of all the people who work and bring value while we accept criminals and murderers from our surrounding countries. As long as you black you can stay, no matter how bad you may be, but any other race or nationality, you are fined and deported. I wonder if the amount of money to be made from the fines has anything to do with it? Talk about screwed up priorities…….