Archive for year: 2017

On 22 February, a letter was issued by a governing school in Edenvale, informing parents that if any foreign child who has incomplete documentation will be escorted by the police and the parents should fetch them at the police station. This had led to major outrage among all foreign families living in South Africa.

The Department of Home Affairs immediately took to social media addressing the situation stating that the instruction did not come from Home Affairs and that the letter must be ignored and apologised for any ‘hurt’ that may have been caused.

The Department of Basic Education has been urged by Human Rights Lawyers, to issue a Directive instructing all schools to refrain from discriminating against foreign- and even undocumented children by refusing- or charging higher fees to them. They are further requesting that the Directive should also state that the schools will assist the foreign children with obtaining the necessary documents.

The rights of children within South Africa clearly states –

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The salary cap for The Department of Home Affairs and the Parliament had been requested to be reconsidered, but is still set out to remain in play until 2019.

Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan emphasized in his ‘2017 Budget Estimate Expenditure’ that, regardless of the R34 million for the Immigration Affairs programme and R51 million for the advanced processing system, the department will need to be satisfied with the ‘compensation ceiling’.

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A recent media briefing, after a meeting between Malusi Gigaba, South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs, and industry stakeholders including the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (FEDHASA) has raised some concerns in the hospitality and tourism industry.

There has been reference to a requirement for all businesses in the South Africa to employ a minimum of 60% South African citizens. However, this requirement, a provision in the Immigration Act and Regulations, only applies when a foreigner makes application to the Department of Home Affairs for a business visa with the intention of starting or investing in a business in the country.

One of the conditions attached to the business visa is that the applicant undertakes to employ not less than 60% South Africans including permanent residents within a period of 12 months from the date of issue of the visa. There is currently no provision in South African labour legislation that makes reference to the employment of a minimum of 60% South Africans.

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Effective immediately, the Department of Home Affairs has announced that Temporary Residence visas will no longer be transferred to a new passport if the validity of the visa exceeds the validity of the passport in which the visa was originally endorsed.

Up to date, the Department had been issuing visas for the full validity and not taking the expiry of the passports into consideration. This practice has now been suspended and visas not be issued for periods past the expiry date of the visa.

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Cape Town – All businesses – not just those in the hospitality or construction sectors – were required to have a workforce of at least 60 percent South African citizens in their employ, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has clarified.

Gigaba said his department was preparing for a “mass inspection” of businesses countrywide to ensure they complied.

“This has nothing to do with xenophobia, in fact xenophobic violence is what we want to prevent,” Gigaba said in an interview with the Cape Argus. “We must prioritise the employment of South Africans, and businesses across the board have to comply.”

Gigaba added: “The risk of not employing South Africans is that it endangers the lives of foreigners and the property of companies. If you look at the [xenophobic] violence that erupted in 2015, it started precisely because of a company at Isiphingo in Durban that employed non-South Africans, and South Africans attacked the company.”

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