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South Africa currently has an uncountable number of illegal immigrants. Due to limited skills and capacity in the Department of Home Affairs, government is unlikely to get a clear picture on the extent of illegal immigration soon.

South Africa has the highest number of asylum seekers in the world. A total of 188 409 asylum seekers had their permits extended due to inefficiency in responding to the adjudication of applications. Additionally, more than 66 000 asylum seekers are awaiting a decision by the Standing Committee on Refugee Appeals (SCRA) to finalise their requests. There is a further 74 000 backlog of asylum seekers waiting for the Refugee Appeals Board (RAB) to finalise their appeals.

There are currently only four Refugee Reception Offices in the country, Musina (Limpopo), Cape Town (Western Cape), Durban (KwaZulu-Natal) and Marabastad (Tshwane, Gauteng).

The Department of Home Affairs told the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs yesterday that it only budgeted R110 million for upgrades to Ports of Entry. South Africa has 4 750km Land Borders and 2 800km of Sea Borders. These are managed through the 72 designated ports of entry: 10 Airports, 9 Harbours and 53 Land Ports.

We cannot have a safe country if our borders are not well protected. The efforts of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster departments to protect our country and its citizenry will be hampered by this budget allocation.

The Department of Home Affairs needs a more comprehensive and adequately resourced strategy to improve the Refugees and Asylum Regime. This is a ticking bomb. The Department must act now to develop an immigration policy that will give effect to the constitutional obligations to protect both the citizens of South Africa within our borders and those who enter our country.