from DION HENRICK in Cape Town
Western Cape Bureau
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) – SOUTH Africa’s main opposition party – the Democratic Alliance (DA) says regularising Zimbabweans living in the country is the best way to go contrary to popullist notion calling for their deportation.
DA chairperson, Helen Zille, expressed opposition to expelling Zimbabweans in possession of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP).
She accurately pointed out that Zimbabweans’ stay in South Africa should be regularised insisting they have contributed immensely to the South African economy.
“Well, first of all we believe that the Zimbabweans who have been allowed to stay here on the ZEP permit, I think it’s good. They should be regularised. I mean they have been here for a very, very long time, and they have added huge value to our economy, massive value to our economy,” Zille said.
She called upon the South African government to give illegal immigrants a chance to regularise so that they do not become illegal.
“…….and because they had that ZEP permit, and you can’t just take it away from them. I mean right here, it’s something we don’t support, we don’t believe it has just to be taken away from them. We believe that we (the government of South Africa) have to have proper laws. You have to have proper border controls, and you have to build state capacity without corruption to administer them swiftly and properly. That’s what we believe,” Zille said.
She said resolving the country’s immigration challenges was a time-consuming process pointing out such processes required long-term solution as opposed to the populist demagoguery utterances.
“When people have lived in your country for a certain amount of time, they develop certain rights to be in your country. It’s all over the world,” she said.
The DA leader proposed that the South Africa government should attract foreign skilled workers and foreign entrepreneurs to start businesses in the country in order to create the desperately needed jobs
“What I have found, I mean, I can’t generalise, but many of the Zimbabweans I know in South Africa are highly skilled, and add a huge amount to the economy. Skilled people add more opportunities for unskilled people that they take away.”
“So, we want skilled migration to South Africa. We want people with skills, who have got money, and skills, and entrepreneurial leanings to start businesses, that is what we want,” Zille said.
The well informed DA economic opinion exposed populist political activists such as Patriotic Alliance’s (PA’s) Gayton Mckenzie and ActionSA’ Herman Mashaba, who blindly utter migration issues they have no knowledge of economic ramifications they would impact the country.
About 170, 000 Zimbabweans are holders of ZEP permits.
– CAJ News