By Dirk Kotzé
One day after he was sworn in as the new Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber made a range of announcements regarding extending temporary visa concessions and other arrangements affecting legal foreign nationals in South Africa.
It drew attention to him as one of the six new ministers of the DA in the Government of National Unity (GNU). Eleven new ministers were appointed from the DA, PAC, IFP, Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Freedom Front Plus and two from the ANC in the GNU.
Most of them have parliamentary but not ministerial experience. It, therefore, becomes a question of how long it will take for them to master the intricacies of parliamentary procedures and their executive responsibilities.
Schreiber was highlighted as one who started quickly, but what awaits him down the line?
He is qualified in political science and, in 2018, published a book on coalitions in South Africa. Until this year’s election, he was the DA spokesperson of public services and administration and, in that capacity, launched several court cases against the ANC to reveal information on its cadre deployment policy.
Now as the Home Affairs minister, his academic knowledge must assist him in a post that has become a hot issue globally: the growing antagonism against refugees, illegal immigrants and foreigners in general.
The right-wing populism in Europe against refugees from the Middle East and North Africa has changed the politics in countries like Hungary, Türkiye, France, the Netherlands and Spain. The American election later this year will also be influenced by this factor.
In the recent national election, the PA, Operation Dudula and others linked themselves to these immigration sentiments. Only the EFF distanced itself from it. The election indicated to government leaders that a clearer policy on immigration and managing of illegal economic immigrants in South Africa are urgent priorities.
Schreiber will have to be the architect of that approach.
Home Affairs is a key ministry and department because it manages the demographic aspects of the population. For most other ministries, from a planning point of view, Home Affairs and Statistics SA are pivotal components of a system that must manage many civic services related to the population.
The first is to maintain the National Population Register which must be aligned to managing all birth, marriage and death records. The department must also determine and grant South African citizenship.
One institution for whom the Home Affairs functions have been important in recent times is the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). The department must keep the IEC regularly informed of all the deaths of registered voters and persons who have lost their citizenship. They will automatically be removed from the national voters roll.
Also part of the department’s civic services is its task to issue travel documents, passports and IDs to South African citizens and permanent residents. The challenges the department and Schreiber will have to contend with in this respect are unreliable government ICT infrastructure, long queues at Home Affairs offices and corruption in the process of issuing the documents.
Online applications and the use of bank branches have improved the situation. Investigations by the Special Investigative Unit and other components of the criminal justice cluster are slowly exposing syndicates and departmental officials, increasing Home Affairs’ integrity.
In addition to its civic services, the department’s second main function is managing immigration admissions into South Africa. It includes determining the residency status of foreigners. Extensions of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit or the extension of temporary visa permits are two examples of a range of immigration hot potatoes.
In 2022, as part of Operation Vulindlela, the work visa review was conducted under the leadership of a former director-general, Dr Mavuso Msimang. It concentrated, in particular, on the category of visas for high-level skills. Most high-growth economies depend on an inflow of foreign high-level skills.
In the past, this visa category was politically contested and, therefore, South Africa requires a pro-active policy approach in this respect.
The former minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, recognised the policy need and therefore requested the 2022 review. Schreiber will have to take it further and identify the best practices used by countries like Australia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the US and other countries in exploiting skills.
Directly relevant for immigration and refugee management is the management of South Africa’s international borders.
In October 2023, the Border Management Agency (BMA) was launched to ensure that immigration laws and regulations were upheld. It will be the third armed force in South Africa after the military and police, responsible for border law enforcement, while the SANDF is responsible for border protection.
The BMA is an autonomous agency with its commissioners, but the Minister of Home Affairs serves as its executive authority.
Border management is not limited to the BMA. Schreiber will also be the chair of the inter-ministerial consultative committee on border management, which will include the other portfolios also involved in border management such as the SA Revenue Service, the Department of Agriculture, SANDF, SAPS and Transport.
The key to a better functioning Home Affairs will be good communication and understanding between the ministry and the department.
Key policy adjustments will be expected, while the department will have to incorporate the most advanced ICT infrastructure which can reduce the long queues at its offices and reduce the human factor in processing of documents, especially of illegal foreigners.
* Professor Dirk Kotzé is based in the Department of Political Sciences, Unisa
** ** The views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media