Party backs action on foreigners’ crime
‘Honeymoon is over in country’
The ANC has stood by Gauteng premier David Makhura’s comments accusing foreign nationals of committing crimes, including cash-intransit heists. Speaking at the party’s headquarters on the manifesto brief on peace and stability yesterday, ANC acting spokesperson Dakota Legoete said foreigners who commit crime would face the full wrath of the law. “Please be informed, the honeymoon is over in this country. We cannot allow ourselves to be cajoled and muzzled by criminals and thugs. “We are now going to take control of our safety and security going forward, so nobody must blackmail us into silence. “Everybody must know that if you are here [in SA], you are here at our behest and you must respect our constitution, sovereignty and our integrity as the state. You can’t come from anywhere else in the world and be a bully-boy or bully-girl in this country.” Legoete’s warning follows Makhura stating last week that he has discovered that certain types of crimes were being perpetrated by certain foreign nationals. Weighing into the debate yesterday, minister of defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, said: “We have reached a point where we believe we should not be moaning about the number of companies [military units]‚ the numbers of warm bodies‚ you have on the borderline.
“We should now look at innovative ways‚ look at technology. For instance‚ South Africa is a big producer of unmanned aerial vehicles and we are now looking into that.” Mapisa-Nqakula said the country would conquer the challenges against illegal migration and also win the war against porous borders. Meanwhile, the DA has called for tougher immigration reforms to be enforced by home affairs so that criminals are deported, and all migrants are documented.