ActionSA: ‘Inefficient’ deportations cannot be at taxpayers’ expense
ActionSA said on Wednesday that taxpayers cannot be expected to pay for government inefficiencies when deporting undocumented migrants.
Beesley addressed the state of Home Affairs leading up to Wednesday’s Medium Term Budget Policy Address by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
Godongwana on Wednesday delivered the first mini-budget since the formation of the government of national unity.
The Department of Home Affairs recently revealed that it had spent R52 million to deport almost 20,000 undocumented immigrants.
ActionSA’s Alan Beesley said the National Treasury needs to provide Home Affairs with sufficient resources to carry out its functions effectively.
“Government must allocate adequate resources to Home Affairs, not only to handle deportations effectively, also to secure our borders and ensure a functioning immigration system that protects our country,” he said.
On the issue of the South African Revenue Service, Beesley said that the country cannot expect municipality revenue collection to function smoothly when SARS is underfunded.
Beesley emphasised that the revenue service's funding needs to catch up to international benchmarks.
“The consequences of this underfunding hamper SARS’s ability to collect full tax revenues to the government, and it allows the illicit economy to thrive,” Beesley said.
He also called on Godongwana to develop a plan to reduce government debt, saying it is undermining efforts to deliver vital public services.
“With debt level expected to reach R5.4 trillion by the end of the financial year, it represents billions in interest payments that could have gone to essential services such as education, health care and clean water.”
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