South Africa no longer wants to bear the cost of its migration policy alone. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has announced its intention to charge foreign governments for deporting their nationals who are in the country illegally. « Moving forward we will also be billing countries for their foreign nationals who have to be deported or who are in our criminal detention facilities, » said its spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri.
To justify the shift, Pretoria points to striking figures. More than 100,000 undocumented foreigners have been deported over the past two years, and according to DIRCO, recent organised repatriations have shown that countries of origin are able to take care of their own citizens. The stated aim is to ease the burden on South African taxpayers.
The announcement has not stayed on paper. The Department of Home Affairs has written, through DIRCO, to the government of Malawi and to the embassies of Nigeria and Ethiopia, asking them to reimburse part of the roughly 292 million rand spent on repatriating foreign nationals. Transport, accommodation, overtime for immigration officers: the bill covers the full logistics deployed to send home some 80,000 undocumented migrants. Some municipalities are themselves seeking reimbursement from the state for costs they had not budgeted for.
This financial offensive comes against a heavy backdrop. In recent months, attacks on foreigners have pushed several African countries to evacuate their citizens. Nigeria welcomed a first batch of 258 repatriated nationals, Malawi launched its own return plan, and Ghana secured the release of 26 of its detained citizens. Zimbabwe and Mozambique, both with large communities in the country, are also among the nations affected.
The move has drawn sharp criticism. For much of African public opinion, it seems paradoxical to ask countries of origin to pay for departures largely driven by the insecurity their citizens suffered. Some accuse Pretoria of failing to protect foreigners, a charge the South African government rejects. In the face of the backlash, DIRCO has softened its stance, presenting billing as one option among others to strengthen cooperation with countries whose nationals are detained or deported.
Beyond the accounting dispute, it is the ideal of African integration that is being shaken. As the continent’s most industrialised economy, South Africa has for decades drawn workers from across the region. For these diasporas, often settled for years and contributing to the local economy, the prospect of deportations billed to their governments adds yet another layer of uncertainty, and leaves Abuja, Lilongwe and Addis Ababa facing a delicate choice between protecting their citizens and preserving their relations with Pretoria.