Home Affairs seeks R292m reimbursement from Malawi, Nigeria and Ethiopia over repatriation costs

Home Affairs has spent R292 million on a recent repatriation operation and has formally asked the governments of Malawi, Nigeria and Ethiopia to reimburse the costs, the department’s director-general told MPs.

Letters sent via DIRCO as department awaits responses

Director-General Tommy Makhode told the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs that the department had written to the Malawian government and to the embassies of Nigeria and Ethiopia through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), requesting reimbursement.

“We have also written to the government of Malawi, and of course the embassies of Nigeria and Ethiopia, requesting a reimbursement of this cost through the Department of DIRCO,” Makhode said.

He told MPs the department was awaiting responses from the respective governments.

Scale and cost of the operation

The department characterised the exercise as an unfunded mandate for Home Affairs and other participating government departments.

“This is an unfunded mandate as the Department of Home Affairs and other departments that have been involved in this matter,” Makhode said.

Of the R292 million spent, the largest item was transport. The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure spent R48 million establishing and operating the temporary repatriation centre, the department said. The City of eThekwini and the City of Cape Town provided transport assistance; Home Affairs reimbursed eThekwini for its costs.

Home Affairs had initially been allocated R60 million but said it had not anticipated the scale of the operation. The department submitted a Cabinet memorandum on the unforeseen and unavoidable expenditure and has sought reprioritisation of funds, including approaching the Finance Minister.

Processing, centres and capacities

The government set up the Temporary Repatriation Processing Centre in Musina, Limpopo, after direction from the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration. Makhode said the centre had been designed to accommodate up to 20,000 people, though its occupancy peaked at about 1,005 and had since declined.

By close of business on August 6, Home Affairs had processed 82,875 people through the repatriation and deportation processes. Makhode said the figure included people who had been repatriated as well as those who went through the deportation process. The highest number processed during the peak period was 4,850.

Deportations, Lindela budget and dedicated courts

The department said the current financial-year budget for deportations at Lindela was R257 million, but that it expected to exceed that amount because of the increased volume of deportations.

Across the government’s dedicated immigration courts, 28,737 cases had been finalised. Gauteng recorded the highest number of cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 4,973. The Western Cape recorded 3,334 cases, while the Eastern Cape had 2,019.

In eThekwini, the Chief Magistrate established seven dedicated courts between June 1 and July 9; one operated virtually with a link to Sherwood and six operated from Durban Central. Makhode said the courts finalised 2,173 cases during that period. Government is working to expand dedicated court capacity at OR Tambo International Airport and Lindela to allow immigration cases to be processed faster.

Other figures and policy notes

The department reported that 63,090 foreign nationals were declared undesirable during the previous financial year, compared with 20,340 during the current financial year. Makhode said declarations included cases involving foreign nationals who had overstayed their permitted period in South Africa. He said an overstay of 30 days was subject to a one-year ban, while longer periods could result in bans ranging from two to five years.

Makhode told MPs that sites where foreign nationals had assembled including Sherwood Park in Durban were not official government facilities and had been managed by NGOs and business communities while government officials verified documentation to facilitate either deportation or repatriation.

He also said the government’s approach remained grounded in the Constitution, human rights and international obligations, and that government would not tolerate violence, intimidation, racism, xenophobia, or the blocking of foreign nationals’ access to clinics, hospitals, schools and other public services.