Motlanthe moots integration of borders to tackle migration crisis
‘Starting point must be the creation of a single database’
The only practical and cost-effective means of resolving the country’s migration challenges is to open talks with the country’s neighbours, a process that might lead to the “flattening and collapsing of borders” – first in Lesotho and South Africa, and then follow up with other nearby countries.
This is according to South Africa’s former caretaker president Kgalema Motlanthe, who said the migration problem was as old as life itself, and no country had ever successfully resolved it.
The spin-offs to this arrangement might in the end result in free movement of goods, services and citizens, and the possible creation of a single market and common passport for ease of travel. First, Lesotho would top the list, then later on to be joined by Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia, among others.
The net effect of these arrangements is likely to boost
the gross domestic product (GDP) of all participating countries – and the maximisation of economic output.
Additionally, the move will encourage the integration of policies, to make it easy to propagate for the creation of joint armed forces – an effort to ensure that the citizens enjoy maximum security protection.
“We first have to get a template to work with Lesotho, using the country as a guide by having some agreement to integrate both Lesotho and South Africa into one.
“Prohibition, or the beefing up of our security presence on the borders will not yield the necessary results; that is a makeshift solution. We may be misallocating
scarce resources, and not getting dividends for it.
“Lesotho is landlocked in South Africa, and so we should put our heads together, working with Lesotho, to resolve the migration challenges facing us,” Motlanthe said.
First, he said, South Africa
would be better served by viewing integration as a viable solution to solving migration difficulties. He said the current border management system that was recently launched by the department of home affairs should be seen as a shortterm measure. In the final analysis, he said, what the country required was to seek a dialogical engagement with Lesotho to explore the possibility of collapsing, and integrating the borders.
The starting point is to have the home affairs departments of both country working together towards developing a single database for the citizens of both countries. In this way, he said, the countries would be killing two birds with one stone, first in terms of securing the borders from criminal elements, and second, integrating the countries with a common historical destiny and heritage.
“I see this model as a template, which in the end will also open a dialogue with other neighbours such as Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
“Working towards integration seems to me to be a viable and practical solution to the question of migration. Migration is not something that can be resolved piecemeal and half-heartedly. It has been with us since the beginning of time, and we must work together to resolve it.
“The integration of borders seems to also have potential economic spin-offs which will be beneficial to us and our neighbours, and so we will need to embark on this journey together.”
Motlanthe was emphatic that throwing security and police intervention to a migration problem might not bear fruit, and might only serve as an unsustainable effort to dealing with a complex problem.
“Dialogue is essential. We must not run away from reality. The project of integration is attractive to me, and I hope policymakers will help our countries to tackle this difficulty,” he said.
The starting point, he said, was the creation of a single database, a process that must be led by the home affairs department of the two countries.
He said the Sa-lesotho template or experimentation, and ultimately the integration of the two countries, would inspire another development: a negotiation process extended to Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe with the same objective of creating seamless borders, with home offices of the respective countries acting as common centres of convergence.