New immigration laws enacted

South Africa's new Immigration Act has left too much discretion to police and immigration officials, and criminalised ordinary job seekers from neighbouring countries, the NGO Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) said on Tuesday. After several delays, amendments and last minute court challenges, the legislation replacing the Aliens Control Act was finally enacted on Monday evening. Although the main thrust of the objections to the act were that it placed very high financial requirements on immigrants who wanted to retire in South Africa, and did not contain enough investor-friendly clauses, LHR was concerned about the impact on alleged illegal immigrants, small traders and job seekers. "The new act's main focus is on big business and large corporations, and facilitating the movement of international professionals. There is no adequate provision for the majority of people who need to enter South Africa," Jacob van Garderen, coordinator of LHR in South Africa, told IRIN on Tuesday. Instead of creating user-friendly mechanisms, the new act made it more difficult for people to apply for work permits, and for entrepreneurs to employ skilled people, he explained. It also didn't deal adequately with certain categories of migrants like the significant number of neighbouring nationals employed for generations in agriculture, mining and small businesses. Nor did it make provision for people like Zimbabwean craft traders who needed to enter the country for a few weeks, or casual labourers. "It criminalises a large number of migrants who would otherwise have entered South Africa legally, and places an unacceptably high burden on enforcement agencies like the police and the immigration authorities," Van Garderen said. "If this movement was regulated it would give the state the opportunity to know who is entering the country." The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) agreed, adding that the act gave arbitrary powers of "search and seize" if there were reasonable grounds a person was not South African. The language of the act, although meant to curb xenophobia, could also promote it through wording that gave the impression South Africa was being "bombarded by foreigners", SAHRC deputy chairwoman, Zonke Majodina, said. LHR was particularly concerned about the immigration enforcement mechanisms of the act, which left an "unacceptable degree of discretion" to the police and immigration officials, and involved private companies in detention and deportation. According to the act, alleged illegal immigrants may be detained for 30 days without a warrant before being detained, after which an extension ordered by a judge is required. This would give detainees the opportunity to place their case before a court and possibly have the warrant of detention set aside. However, Van Garderen said, not many detainees knew this and were held for "unacceptably long periods". Refugees and asylum seekers would continue to refer to the separate South African Refugees Act and would not immediately be affected by the new Immigration Act. The new act makes provision for an Immigration Court, which will eventually replace the Refugees Appeal Board. The departments of Justice and Home Affairs are still debating the jurisdiction of the proposed court.