As political head of the Department, the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, must take the flak for the chaos surrounding the Immigration Act.
The Department failed to comply with a 2017 Constitutional Court ruling requiring it to make amendments to the Act by June 2019.
When Chief Justice Raymond Zondo enquired about the matter, the Minister blamed his officials.
According to Motsoaledi, he was never informed that he is personally responsible for ensuring that the instruction is executed, or to see to it that an extension is applied so that the relevant amendments can be made.
He also claimed that the Department’s legal advisors, who had been under strict orders to keep him up to speed with the matter, did not do so.
The Department, in turn, offered the 2019 general elections, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and the fire at the Houses of Parliament as excuses for not meeting the specified deadline.
These arguments hold no water.
Both the pandemic and the fire damaging the Houses of Parliament took place long after the June 2019 deadline.
It is now up to the court to decide how the rights of those in custody must be protected while the Department finalises its immigration legislation.
Section 92 of the South African Constitution clearly stipulates that ministers are responsible and accountable for the powers and functions assigned to them in terms of their office. Cabinet ministers are, furthermore, also accountable to Parliament.
The FF Plus will welcome a personal order as to costs against Minister Motsoaledi and the Director-General of Home Affairs, Livhuwani Makhode.
The Minister is clearly unable to properly manage or hold his department accountable.
The constant decline of service delivery by the department reinforces the need for the ANC government to be replaced by a new multiparty coalition government in 2024.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Jaco Mulder on FF Plus
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