Disarray at SA borders to fuel DA campaign

Party says effect of corruption at home affairs being felt

The DA will use the issue of illegal border crossings in its campaign for next year’s election.

This is to attract the middle and upper class voters who have expressed fears over their safety in the cities.

Yesterday, the official opposition party said it had visited the Limpopo-Zimbabwe border, KwaZulu-Natal-Mozambique border and North West Botswana border where it uncovered a number of issues.

These included illegal crossborder trading, alleged social grant fraud, porous borders, lack of fencing, poor military patrolling and hijacking syndicates that were ferrying stolen vehicles across the borders.

DA spokesperson on immigration Jacques Julius yesterday blamed the ANC, saying it had left the borders in disarray.

“By allowing migrants into our country, we take upon ourselves the duties set forth in our constitution to provide services to the new entrants.

“The only responsible way to do this is to have a sound approach to recording and monitoring migration.

“This will give us the ability to plan effectively for the services we must provide, as well as to guarantee the security of everyone who finds themselves within our borders at all times,” he said.

Sowetan understands that the DA’s election research showed potential voters wanted more control of the borders to ensure undocumented people do not enter the country.

DA mayor of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba has been criticised for coming out against illegal immigrants, saying he did not want undocumented people in his city.

Julius said his party was the only one that could fix the porous borders.

He said the governing party had left the borders in disarray and strong action had to be taken to ensure that the borders were fixed.

“It is for this reason, the party has undertaken to request an urgent meeting with the SANDF chief to discuss the concerns and challenges the army face in securing our borders,” he said.

“We also challenge the newly appointed home affairs minister, Siyabonga Cwele, to accompany the DA to see the effect of home affairs corruption at the borders.”