Julius Malema Exposes The Real Cost Of Chasing Undocumented Foreigners Across South Africa

Following his call for a more practical national strategy to immigration—namely, the registration and documentation of undocumented foreign nationals—rather than the continuation of expensive deportation operations, Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema has sparked a new round of heated political controversy regarding South Africa’s border policies. Speaking to members of the media and their supporters, the opposition leader urged public officials and competing political groups to put populism aside and instead consider the better use of state resources, such as the incorporation of non-citizens into official databases for the purposes of regulation, taxation, and monitoring.

For failing to stop the flow of unlawful immigrants, government officials and competing parties waste taxpayers’ money on mass detention facilities, raids by law enforcement, and border enforcement, according to Malema. He brought up the fact that the government’s spending on tracking down illegal people throughout townships and cities is unsustainable and gives people a false impression of safety. Spending millions of rands on ineffective law enforcement operations that fail to address Department of Home Affairs administrative backlogs is what the EFF chief executive officer claims the state is doing.

Government institutions can more accurately track who resides within national borders, maintain public safety, and ensure everyone contributes to the local economy through formal taxation, according to the party leader’s proposed systematic alternative, which involves formalising the status of undocumented migrants. He said that local governments should be able to use correct demographic data to design infrastructure and public services, and that adequate paperwork should be in place to prevent shadow economies from exploiting vulnerable workers. Malema argues that incorporating people into the formal legal system is a reasonable approach to government that puts budgetary efficiency, peace and order, and the rule of law ahead of political rhetoric.

This reasonable suggestion is made at a time when anti-immigration sentiment is at an all-time high in several provinces, with opposition parties and civic groups calling for more stringent border controls and more deportations. The issuance of documents to illegal immigrants, according to Malema’s detractors, encourages further illegal crossings, puts a burden on public health and housing facilities, and weakens the rule of law. Instead than legalising those who cheated the system, opponents say that law enforcement should prioritise protecting the borders and enforcing the law.

In spite of criticism, the EFF’s top brass insists that administrative regularisation is a tried-and-true method for regulating the global labour market and strengthening governments’ intelligence agencies. Politicians, Malema said again, take advantage of the public’s anger by making passionate statements against foreign nationals, all the while disregarding easy, inexpensive ways to rein in regulators. There are growing ideological chasms between those who want border integration and those who support harsh deportation policies, and the EFF’s demand to record and track migrants is at the center of these arguments.

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