By Lebone Rodah Mosima
South Africa processed 53,449 foreign nationals through deportation and voluntary repatriation channels by close of business on Saturday, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said on Sunday.
Kubayi said Malawian nationals accounted for more than 80% of the combined total recorded by the close of business on Saturday, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans.
The figure combines formal deportations carried out under South African immigration law with voluntary repatriation arrangements involving foreign governments and their citizens.
Kubayi told a media briefing hosted by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration in Pretoria that immigration enforcement remained the sole responsibility of the state.
“Government reiterates that the management of immigration, border management, deportation and facilitated repatriation is the exclusive responsibility of the State,” she said.
She said that individuals and organisations had no authority to search homes, demand identity documents or remove suspected undocumented migrants from communities.
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