Limpopo police clamp down on irregular migrants, over 300 arrested
Three hundred and thirty-nine undocumented foreign nationals were arrested during a coordinated operation targeting illegal immigrants in Polokwane in the early hours of Friday morning.
The operation comes after weeks of anti-immigration marches in several parts of the country.
It comprised various law enforcement agencies, including immigration officials, the Hawks, the Department of Home Affairs, and the Limpopo office of the premier, and began in Extension 44, Greenside, on the outskirts of Polokwane.
Four hundred and seventy-eight searches were conducted at people's residences and spaza shops, resulting in the arrests of 339 undocumented foreign nationals for various offences, including violating immigration laws and selling illicit cigarettes.
COMMUNITIES SHOULD STOP RENTING SPACES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Limpopo Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba warned communities against offering rental and business accommodation to undocumented foreign nationals.
“It is concerning that the people who are the enablers of criminality and harboring criminals in their backrooms are South African citizens. Government allocates low-cost houses to people so that they can have a better life, but instead they build backrooms, connect electricity and water illegally, and then accommodate undocumented illegal immigrants.
One of the people who was arrested is a hardcore criminal wanted for murder and a number of housebreaking robberies across the province, and he was residing in a backroom given that accommodation space by a South African national,’’ Ramathuba said.
The premier further said they will be hosting dialogues with the traditional leaders to ensure that foreigners residing in their villages are properly identified and documented.
She also spoke about the burden that illegal immigrants place on the South African systems such as health, education and others.
“I am still emphasizing that there is nowhere in the world where you can just wake up in the morning, go to a certain country without following the laws and making sure you have proper documentation. It has never happened, and there is nowhere that the international community can expect the South African government to say everybody must just come into South Africa without being documented.”
Ramathuba further called on South Africans to work together with the law enforcement agencies to fight the challenge of illegal immigration and deal with it within the ambit of the law.
“We are not saying do not march, but we are saying march peacefully and work together with the police,” she added.
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MASS DEPORTATION
Ramathuba said there was a multidisciplinary team spearheading the deportation processes of illegal immigrants, adding that they are not running the risk of having the same people return to the communities following their arrests.
“When we find that you are in the country illegally, there are a number of categories; there are those who are criminals, and in such cases the police deal with them. Those who are undocumented and volunteering to go home, the national government has established a repatriation center in Musina so they will be taken straight there so that they can join the queue of being repatriated and repatriated,” she said.
OPERATIONS TO CONTINUE IN OTHER DISTRICTS
The Acting Provincial Police Commissioner in Limpopo, Major General Scheepers, said they were happy with the results of Friday’s operation, adding that they will also be taking it to other parts of the province.
“We are not only going to clean here, but we will expand this operation to all the other districts. As we are speaking, all the other districts, but maybe not at the same level, are having their own operations”, he said.
Meanwhile, some community members have praised the efforts by the police to detain illegal immigrants in their communities, saying crime levels will start to decrease and people will now have jobs.
ALSO READ
