Parliament, Wednesday, 11 June 2025 – The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs has yesterday unanimously adopted the A list of the Immigration Amendment Bill, which takes it a step closer to becoming law. The A list is inclusive of the resolutions the committee made last week on various contentious issues relating to the Bill.
This includes the location to codify the “interest-of-justice” criterion in the Bill’s regulations. The committee remains confident that the Bill is adequate to address the gaps identified by various Constitutional Court judgements and brings immigration legislation in line with those judgements.
The committee last week resolved that the interest-of-justice criteria that guide immigration officials in making detention decisions for undocumented immigrants will now be codified in the Bill’s regulations. Despite various views on the matter, the decision was premised on the view that the department’s standard operating procedure is inaccessible to the public and can be amended without stakeholder interaction. Also, the committee was of the view that codifying it in the regulations would enable parliamentary oversight of accountability.
Meanwhile, the committee has reiterated the urgency of the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection to provide a broad policy framework that is responsive to current migration challenges.
“The committee reiterates its view that the White Paper is even more urgent now to ensure policy certainty on immigration issues, hence its call for the department to expedite its processing. To avoid a piecemeal approach to legislation development, the White Paper should provide a clear framework of the migration system in the country,” said Mr Mosa Chabane, the Chairperson of the committee.
The Parliamentary Legal Unit, together with the Office of the State Law Advisor, have been mandated to draft the B list of the Bill.
Meanwhile, the committee has unanimously agreed on the Motion of Desirability on the One Stop Border Post Bill. The committee is of the view that there is need to continue with the Bill, which attempts to regulate the establishment of one-stop border posts through international agreements; to provide for the establishment of common control zones in the territory of an adjoining state; to provide for one-stop border processing arrangements; to authorise the application of the laws of the Republic and the adjoining state in the one-stop border post. The committee will now consider the submissions made to the committee on the Bill.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HOME AFFAIRS, MR MOSA CHABANE.
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