Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
MEDIA RELEASE
The Department of Home Affairs has been criticised for the apparent lack of action with regard to the decision that has been reached on the granting of permanent residence to migrant workers.
In order to give some perspective on the matter it is necessary to give a brief overview of the chronology of events. Although a decision on migrant workers has been reached on 30 October 1995 the instruction to investigate how the decision should be implemented was only received on 2 November 1995.
In this regard the complexity and enormity of the task should not be underestimated. Legal opinion also had to be sought not only with regard to the Aliens Control Act, but also with regard to existing labour agreements in order to ensure certainty for the individual applicants.
The detailed instructions were completed on 15 November 1995 and approved by the Deputy Minister on the same day. At 15:00 on that day he also handed a copy of the instructions to Mr Motlatsi.
The instructions were mailed on 16 November 1995 to all offices of the Department of Home Affairs. The Department is confident that the process will start to work smoothly as from next week and that the deadline of 31 March 1996 will still be met.
Issued by: Subdirectorate Communication Department of Home Affairs Place : Pretoria Date: 1995/11/17