Alexandra residents, including some of the township’s most outspoken critics of undocumented migration, used the immigration sector dialogue at Altrec Sports Complex on September 30 to share their grievances directly with government officials.

The session gave residents a platform to voice dissenting views on immigration and brought them face-to-face with stakeholders, including the department of home affairs.

Illegal immigration has long been a source of friction in Alexandra. Recurring tensions over the issue, including calls from some residents for undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country, demonstrate how deeply it affects the community.

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Mamile Sikhosana, a member of the steering committee of the national dialogue representing the immigration sector, said the purpose of the session was to let people share their concerns and propose the solutions they believe will work best. “As we know in Alexandra, we have a lot of immigration concerns, starting from the education sector [and] informal trading,” she said, adding that the issue cuts across many sectors.

The concerns raised, she said, will be forwarded to the provincial government, and to the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

William Maila, one of the most vocal residents on the subject, said the only acceptable solution is for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa and return only after they have been properly documented.

Employment was a central grievance. Maila said with the rising unemployment rate, South Africans need to reclaim their local economy and start working for themselves.

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Resident Tebogo Selala alleged that some companies hire foreign nationals at very low wages, which she said shuts South Africans out of work. “There is no South African who would want to earn R2 000,” she said.

Selala argued that home affairs should conduct door-to-door inspections at companies suspected of such practices, and that the community should work with authorities to make this possible. “We know that company has foreign [workers] or that the market in Alexandra has foreigners, so [the] community is important,” she said.

Home affairs Alexandra branch manager Thuri Moodali confirmed that the department is already inspecting businesses. Between April and August, he said, 147 businesses were inspected. Alexandra has only two immigration officials, he noted, yet they have been carrying out these inspections.

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