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The South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes the address by President Cyril Ramaphosa on migration and illegal immigration, in which he acknowledged growing public concerns about border management, unemployment, pressure on public services, safety, informal trading, labour exploitation and the rule of law.

The President recognised that these concerns are real and deserve to be addressed, while also warning against xenophobia, racism, Afrophobia, vigilantism and lawlessness.

We also welcome the affirmation that immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the state, and the state alone. No group, organisation, political formation or individual has the right to stop people in the streets, demand identity documents, intimidate foreign nationals, or incite violence under the cover of “community concern”. Such conduct weakens the rule of law, endangers communities, and diverts attention from the real structural causes of poverty, unemployment and social insecurity.

The SACP also agrees that South Africa cannot tolerate illegal immigration, corruption in immigration systems, the sale of documents, the abuse of asylum and refugee processes, or the exploitation of undocumented workers by employers. A democratic state must know who enters the country, for what purpose, and under what legal conditions. The enforcement of immigration laws is not xenophobia. However, enforcement must always be constitutional, humane, lawful and directed by the state.

The emphasis on employers who exploit undocumented migrants by paying them below the minimum wage, forcing them to work longer hours, and using their vulnerable status to undermine labour rights is critical to the resolution of this crisis. This is a crucial class question. The problem is not simply the presence of migrant workers; it is the capitalist exploitation of vulnerable labour, whether South African or foreign. Employers who break immigration and labour laws must face serious penalties, including criminal prosecution where appropriate.

The Party therefore supports the announced labour inspections, workplace enforcement, border management reforms, anti-corruption measures and immigration law reforms to be implemented decisively, transparently and without selective targeting. The recruitment of labour inspectors must strengthen real enforcement in farms, factories, construction sites, hospitality, logistics, domestic work, retail, informal trading and all sectors where vulnerable workers are exploited. However, the SACP cautions against reducing the migration question to a narrow security problem.

The President correctly stated that illegal immigration is not the cause of all South Africa’s economic challenges. The deeper roots of the crisis lie in unemployment, poverty, inequality, uneven development, deindustrialisation, weak local production, poor spatial planning, criminality, corruption and the continued domination of the economy by monopoly capital. The SACP therefore insists that the migration question must be located within a broader programme of social and economic transformation. South Africa needs jobs, industrial expansion, public employment, land and agrarian transformation, township and village economic development, co-operative ownership, food production, community-owned stores, local manufacturing, and stronger public services. Without such a programme, the anger of poor communities will continue to be misdirected towards other poor and vulnerable people.

The state must act against illegal trading, counterfeit goods, health and safety violations and criminal networks, but it must also support the people to own and control economic activity in their own communities. Many South Africans feel excluded from economic opportunities in their own communities. But the answer is not xenophobic mobilisation. The answer is to build democratic, community-owned and worker-controlled alternatives: consumer co-operatives, buying clubs, co-operative banking, local procurement systems, community-owned retail outlets, and support for local producers and informal traders.

South African workers and migrant workers must not be turned against each other. The real enemy is the employer who exploits undocumented labour, the corrupt official who sells documents, the criminal syndicate that profits from desperation, and the capitalist system that produces unemployment and poverty. Immigration laws must be enforced by authorised state institutions, not by mobs, vigilante groups or opportunistic political actors. The anger of communities must be answered through jobs, services, safety, local enterprise development and people-owned economic institutions.

Migration pressures are linked to war, poverty, underdevelopment, imperialist extraction, climate stress and uneven development. South Africa must work with SADC, the African Union and neighbouring countries to address the causes of forced migration. The SACP further calls on government to ensure that the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration works with organised labour, progressive civil society, community organisations and legitimate local structures. Migration management cannot be left only to security institutions. It must include labour, trade and industry, small business development, social development, international relations, policing, local government, health, education and community safety. The Party will continue to oppose xenophobia and Afrophobia wherever they appear. We will equally oppose the liberal denial of real problems faced by working-class communities.

The correct position is neither silence nor hatred. It is a principled, working-class, constitutional and socialist approach: defend the rule of law, protect all workers, punish exploitative employers, rebuild state capacity, support community-owned economic development, and strengthen African solidarity. The SACP calls on all South Africans to reject fear, anger and hatred as instruments of politics. The migration question must not be used to divide the working class. It must be addressed through unity, discipline, solidarity and a programme of transformation that gives communities real power over the conditions of their lives.

Issued by SACP