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The Beitbridge Border Post in Limpopo.
The Department of Home Affairs says it costs over R60 million each year to deport foreign nationals by road through neighboring countries.
Chief Financial Officer of Home Affairs, Gordon Hollamby, says most deportations happen via the Beitbridge Border Post, which is the busiest port of entry between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Briefing the Standing Committee on Appropriations, Hollamby says the department has bought its own vehicles to transport deported foreign nationals to their countries.
“Of just over R60 million per annum, now chairperson the question is, does deportation make sense? And do they not come back quicker than what we deport? Unfortunately chair in some instances, and that’s anecdotal, I am told that some of the people say to the drivers, ‘they will see us back in Gauteng’. So, that’s what they say to us in Beitbridge. So, chairperson what we do from a deportation perspective is, we bought our own buses. We have bought vehicles and we have also benefitted from car funding in that regard.”
Hollamby says costs to fly them out to their country of origin can go up to about R5 million for chartered flights. He says not everyone enters the country through the river at Beitbridge.
“The expensive deportation is charting a flight. And chairperson to charter one flight to Pakistan it costs you about R5 million…Not everybody is coming through the river at Beitbridge. People fly into the country on a normal visitors’ visa and then just simply stay and they don’t go back.”
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