If an undocumented employee leaves a job, is there a trained South African ready to fill it?
Deportations may enforce immigration laws, but they cannot guarantee that unemployed South Africans will step into the jobs left behind. Picture: iStock
South Africa took decisive action on illegal immigration.
What citizens deserve now is equally serious action on jobs. Because behind the percentages are people.
The 33.6% unemployment rate recorded between April and June is not just a statistic: it is 8.5 million South Africans who wake up each morning without work, income and dignity.
Nearly half of our youth are locked out of opportunity. This matters because one of the loudest arguments behind the crackdown on undocumented foreigners has been that South Africans are losing jobs to illegal immigrants.
Even though the unemployment figures were compiled before the March and March protests and deportations that followed, the crisis is worsening.
The numbers show no evidence that deportations have eased it, despite over 178 000 migrants leaving since 30 June.
Ask any young graduate who has sent out dozens of CVs without a reply. Ask a father who lost his job in April and is still waiting for a call back.
Ask a mother who sells vetkoek at the taxi rank because the factory closed. For them, deportations have not made a difference.
Instead, they see the R292 million spent by the department of home affairs on deportations since 30 June and the R600 million redirected to policing in the lead-up to the anti-immigration protests.
They see contracts awarded, buses hired, accommodation paid for. They ask: couldn’t this money have been used to create jobs, fund training, or support small businesses?
This does not mean deportations are unnecessary. Yes, the country must enforce its immigration laws – not simply “turn borders into bridges”, as President Cyril Ramaphosa tried to appease the heads of state during the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Durban this week.
Employers who deliberately hire undocumented workers must face consequences. But enforcement is not an employment strategy.
The question is whether the March and March protesters have confused the removal of undocumented migrants with the creation of jobs.
Border control is essential. But it cannot substitute for job creation.
The costs linked to the March and March protests dwarf previous departmental spending. Over three years, R552 million was spent on detention and deportation, including R242.7 million specifically on deportations.
South Africans deserve more than images of queues of foreign nationals boarding buses going to their home countries. They deserve an account of who won contracts, how much was paid and whether local companies and workers benefited.
Government must also say what happens next. If an undocumented worker leaves a construction site, farm, factory or shop, who takes the job?
Is there a trained South African ready to fill it? If not, deportation may remove a person without solving the economic problem.
The proposal to recover deportation costs from countries such as Malawi, Nigeria and Ethiopia is unlikely to get cooperation.
Immigration enforcement is SA’s responsibility, but demanding reimbursement could create diplomatic tension.
The SADC heads of state must address immigration issues to avoid SA working in silos and ending up sparking xenophobic outcry.
Simultaneously, SA cannot call for African integration and stronger regional trade while treating migration as a security problem.
The government must also foster conditions in which entrepreneurs can thrive, as they are the backbone of job creation.
Deportation can remove people, but it also shuts down some foreigner-owned businesses, further reducing opportunities.
Only economic growth, investment, skills and functioning institutions can create jobs.
