Keep Us Strong WikiLeaks logo

Currently released so far... 64621 / 251,287

Articles

Browse latest releases

Browse by creation date

Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Browse by classification

Community resources

courage is contagious

Viewing cable 08PRETORIA1549, SOUTH AFRICA DEBATES IMMIGRATION & BORDER POLICY

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs

Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
  • The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
  • The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
  • The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.

Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #08PRETORIA1549.
Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08PRETORIA1549 2008-07-16 07:07 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Pretoria
VZCZCXRO7965
RR RUEHDU RUEHJO
DE RUEHSA #1549/01 1980707
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160707Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5090
INFO RUEHOR/AMEMBASSY GABORONE 5296
RUEHSB/AMEMBASSY HARARE 3685
RUEHLS/AMEMBASSY LUSAKA 3655
RUEHTO/AMEMBASSY MAPUTO 5887
RUEHTN/AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN 5820
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 9997
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 8218
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 001549 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PREF SF
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA DEBATES IMMIGRATION & BORDER POLICY 
 
REF: PRETORIA 1544 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  In the aftermath of recent xenophobic violence, public 
debates (reftel) highlighted unresolved problems and wide 
divisions on immigration policy and border management. 
Stoked by alarmist media reports, South African society often 
misperceived foreign migrants as a burden or threat rather 
than a potential source of benefit.  The Department of Home 
Affairs (DHA) was seen as ineffective in immigration 
administration, not least (by its own admission) in the use 
of deportation as a main tool to combat irregular migration. 
There was fundamental disagreement on how loosely or tightly 
SA's borders could or should be managed, with DHA favoring a 
soft stance ("management," not "control") while others argued 
every state was duty-bound to control its borders.  In the 
absence of effective SAG controls, citizens could continue to 
counter unrestricted immigration by vigilante means. 
 
2.  Poloff attended two panel discussions of xenophobia's 
root causes and possible solutions.  The first was hosted by 
the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) on June 5 with Deputy 
Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba; South African Human 
Rights Commission (SAHRC) Chairman Jody Kollapen; and South 
African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) Deputy 
Chairman Moeletsi Mbeki (brother of President Thabo Mbeki). 
The second was a high-powered debate held at Witswatersrand 
(Wits) University on June 17 with ANC Executive Committee 
member Valli Moosa; Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool; 
University of SA (UNISA) Vice Chancelor Barney Pityana; the 
Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)'s Wilmot James; and 
policy analyst Ebrahim Khalil-Hassen.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Immigration A Blessing, Not A Curse 
----------------------------------- 
 
3.  Millions of African and other immigrants have come to 
South Africa seeking new lives in the fourteen years since 
the end of apartheid.  Zimbabwe alone is the source of 
probably close to three million new arrivals.  Other main 
sources have been poor and unstable conflict zones such as 
Mozambique, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, 
Somalia, and Nigeria.  Many African immigrants bring 
critically needed technical and professional skills that are 
in short supply in SA.  The DRC Ambassador told poloffs that 
a significant percentage of Kinshasa's professional elite are 
resident in SA, but local immigration policy does not allow 
them to work in their fields.  Highly educated Zimbabwean 
professors and engineers swell the ranks of the working poor, 
as domestic workers, waiters, and gardeners.  Somalis are 
often market traders and shopkeepers. 
 
4.  Participants in the two panels felt a need to change 
public (mis)perceptions of migrants as a social bane and 
burden, while encouraging awareness of the positive benefits 
of immigration.  Malusia Gigaba said alarmist media reports 
of "floods" and "swarms" of aliens had fed a perception of 
all foreigners as sources of crime, drug traffic, and 
unemployment, and a net drain on resources.  In truth, he 
said, Southern Africa had a rich history of migration -- a 
mix of refugees and asylum seekers, economic migrants, 
skilled workers, and students -- but public conflation of 
regular with irregular migration made all foreigners 
vulnerable to stigmatization and mistreatment.  The SAG must 
improve asylum processing, said Gigaba, and help the public 
Qimprove asylum processing, said Gigaba, and help the public 
to understand migration's benefits. 
 
5.  Jody Kollapen raised the notion of migrants' untapped 
valuable skills.  "We should see them as persons coming to 
work to our benefit.  We must move beyond a posture of 
charity to one of partnership.  Zimbabweans are skilled at 
business; are there partnership possibilities?  What 
contribution can they make?"  Wilmot James advocated 
empowerment of NGOs to assist immigrants, noting that even 
under the apartheid regime the DHA had previously provided 
such funding. 
 
---------------------------- 
Current Approach is "Futile" 
---------------------------- 
 
6.  SA has long and porous land borders with six countries. 
 
PRETORIA 00001549  002 OF 003 
 
 
There are reports of migrants walking from as far away as the 
Horn of Africa to enter SA avoiding official border 
checkpoints.  The equally long maritime border with the 
Atlantic and Indian Oceans is underregulated and lightly 
policed.  As a regional hub of air traffic, SA's air links 
with neighboring countries provide additional routes for 
intending immigrants to enter and disappear among the local 
population.  While entries are recorded, data is not 
correlated to exits, and overstays are not pursued. 
 
7.  Participants agreed the SAG's current approach to 
immigration was ineffective.  For starters, policy making was 
stymied by an absence of data, according to Barney Pityana. 
Some analysts estimated six million foreigners living 
illegally in SA, while the SAG's figure was three million (as 
claimed recently by ANC President Jacob Zuma) -- but in fact 
no one knew the real number of immigrants in SA, nor their 
origins, status, whereabouts, or activities.  DHA's Gigaba 
cited statistics of 312,000 deportees in 2007, but this was 
"only a slice" and included repeat offenders.  Deportation 
was costly and ineffectual, as irregular migrants kept 
returning.  Kollapen concurred, summing up today's practices 
of arrest, detention, and deportation as "futile."  En route 
to Mozambique, he had watched deportees jump off his train 
and meet taxis to return to work the same day. 
 
8.  DHA's endless delays on processing applications for 
political asylum and work permits perpetuated these 
round-trip cycles by denying migrants legitimate status or 
legal means to remain.  The DHA, by SAG's own account, is one 
of the most troubled and least efficient of the cabinet 
ministries.  Ineffectual leadership and major managerial 
staffing gaps further erode its capacity.  Corruption is a 
major problem, and international security agencies have 
identified or captured criminal and terrorist operatives in 
possession of apparently bona fide SA travel documents.  The 
DHA's level of customer service is dismal -- months to issue 
a passport or national I.D., and potentially years for a 
refugee's application for residency or asylum. 
 
------------------------------------ 
SAG: Border "Management" not Control 
------------------------------------ 
 
9.  Despite consensus on DHA's problems, speakers disagreed 
on future solutions.  (Note: such discussions carry a moral 
and historical subtext -- the association of tight controls 
with apartheid, versus the ANC's lowering of barriers for 
fellow Africans as an expression of solidarity and gratitude 
for African support during the long liberation struggle.  End 
Note.)  The more laissez-faire view was that migrant flows 
were inevitable, and the right approach was "management" not 
"control."  Pityana asserted, "Securing borders is 
counterproductive.  We need an immigration management system 
in cooperation with neighboring countries.  Forty-five 
million is not overpopulated; South Africa can absorb more." 
 
10.  As a member of the South African Development Community 
(SADC), SA is in the process of adopting the 2005 Draft 
Protocol on Facilitation of Movement of Persons within the 
Community, which some analysts believe will exacerbate 
illegal migration.  The Protocol includes, inter alia, a 
single regional visa enabling free travel throughout.  In 
anticipation of hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the SAG 
proposes to allow all African fans to enter SA without visas. 
Qproposes to allow all African fans to enter SA without visas. 
 
11.  Deputy Minister Gigaba took a similar view, stressing 
regional realities.  "Many SADC countries have no resources 
to stem the flow, nor do they make any attempt.  By SADC 
protocols, quotas will increase and then disappear.  Human 
movement is due to widen, not become more restricted... 
Long-term we cannot deny the disappearance of borders.  The 
worst response would be conservativism.  It's about 
management, rather than combating and control, with 
multilateral cooperation and coordination among the three SAG 
tiers (national, provincial, local) in partnership with 
neighboring countries... Sealing borders will not work.  It 
is failing in the US and the EU." 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Opposing View: Borders Must Be Enforced 
--------------------------------------- 
 
12.  Others favored a stronger stance, arguing that border 
controls were a fundamental duty of any state.  HSRC's James 
urged, "We do require secured borders, with controls that are 
 
PRETORIA 00001549  003 OF 003 
 
 
fair, humane, and constitutional.  This is government's 
responsibility within the rule of law."  Having chaired a 
task force on this topic, he felt sure that even SA's 
extensive borders could be monitored with available 
technologies, focused on most frequent crossing points. 
"Border control is not the whole answer," James said, "but it 
is a key part."  Ebrahim Rasool charged the DHA of not living 
in the real world. "A Home Affairs turnaround is urgently 
needed," he said, "to get us out of the twilight zone" on 
immigration and border management. 
 
13.  The most strident critique came from Moeletsi Mbeki, who 
blamed SAG "incompetence" for xenophobic violence.  On 
immigration, he said, "Borders are not 'flexible;' they must 
be enforced, as a modern state.  If you think you don't need 
to control borders you are a half-state, and the consequence 
is the recent events.  Citizens will enforce the laws by 
these methods.  If the government feels this is 'flexible,' 
you will get what you have just seen." 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
14.  SAG and DHA statements ignore negative experiences of 
other countries with permissive attitudes to their borders. 
Immigration is a hot-button issue among SA voters, who expect 
action, not resignation.  SAG ignores the issue at its peril. 
BOST