Within South Africa, as in many other countries, thinking and attitudes to international migration are currently influenced by an unproductive debate between those who call for stricter immigration controls and those who call for controls to be relaxed. The discourse is in general characterised by strong emotions, stereotypes and contested statistics. Discussions are usually limited by “us and them” thinking that contrasts the rights of immigrants to the rights of citizens and the state, or focuses on  either our domestic or our global interests.

South Africa has to overcome huge social and economic challenges and there is an urgent need to build consensus at policy, legislative and strategic levels on how to manage international migration for development. What is proposed in the Green paper is that by adopting a managed migration approach we can work together to achieve common national goals.

The public consultation process will include the following activities:

• The Green Paper on International Migration has been gazetted for the public to submit comments from the 1st of July 2016 to the 30th of September 2016.
• During this period, the Minister will also launch the Green Paper for public comments whereby he will unpack the rationale behind a new policy and provide further details on the consultation process.
• Written submissions should be forwarded to Mr. Sihle Mthiyane on Greenpaper@dha.gov.za. For further clarity on the content of the Green Paper or any other related issue Mr. Mthiyane can be reached on +27 (12) 406 4353 during office hours (8:00 - 16:30).

The Department will be hosting various stakeholder engagements at national, provincial and local level. A communication team has been set-up to keep the public updated on key events. For update on the upcoming events, the public is invited to keep in touch with the Department through the website: www.dha.gov.za or the Department’s social media platforms: facebook (Department of Home Affairs) and twitter account (@HomeAffairsSA).