South Africa’s Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster has moved to calm growing tensions over illegal immigration, saying government is intensifying law enforcement efforts while urging communities to ensure protests remain peaceful and within the law.
The security cluster held an urgent meeting on Monday as demonstrations against undocumented foreign nationals continue to spread across the country, with some protests turning violent.
Briefing the media after engagements with various groups and organisations involved in the protests, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and chairperson of the cluster, Mmamoloko Kubayi, said government had outlined the work already being done to address illegal immigration and related social concerns.
Kubayi said discussions focused on the country’s legal framework, deportation statistics and law enforcement interventions.
“We looked at how many people have been deported,” she said, adding that the highest number of deportees were from Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique.
She said the cluster also discussed the work of the Border Management Authority and broader law enforcement operations aimed at addressing illegal immigration.
Kubayi acknowledged that many citizens believe government is not doing enough to tackle the issue.
“Citizens want to see practical action on the ground by government,” she said.
To strengthen implementation, Kubayi announced that the Deputy Minister for Police Dr Polly Boshielo and Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Njabulo Nzuza would lead a team of deputy ministers, supported by law enforcement agencies, to ensure laws are effectively enforced on the ground and to address the issue of undocumented foreign nationals.
“We want it to be done within the law and through a coordinated approach,” she said.
The minister stressed that while government respected the right to protest, marches and demonstrations had to remain peaceful and lawful.
“We emphasised the importance of working together, that marches must be organised and the state needs to be notified,” Kubayi said.
She noted that the security cluster only became directly involved once protests, initially organised at provincial level, began spreading nationally and incidents of violence emerged.
“When the marches started, from a national point and more protests were seen in various provinces, that is when we get involved. We don’t interfere in the provincial marches,” she said. “The marches were starting to be national, as we saw them in almost all provinces, and they started being violent and that’s what drew our attention as a cluster.”
Minister of Defence and Military Veterans and co-chair of the cluster, Angie Motshekga, said migration was a global phenomenon requiring cooperation between government and communities.
“Migration is an international phenomenon. We said we have to work together to deal with these issues and we communicated with them what the plans are,” Motshekga said.
She added that government did not view the situation as a national crisis but rather as an opportunity for dialogue and coordinated intervention.
“There isn’t panic or a crisis, but the opportunity presented itself for a conversation,” she said.The cluster’s engagement comes amid mounting public pressure on government to tighten border controls, intensify deportations of undocumented migrants and improve visible law enforcement operations in affected communities.
