Deputy Speaker, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers, and hon members, what has made the South African nation so diverse is the movement of people to this southern tip of the continent over the years. From the time of the hunter-gatherers to agro-pastoralists, Dutch settlers, English prospectors and indentured Indian labour, South Africa has been experiencing peopling waves. Our 1994 democratic breakthrough has seen us experiencing yet another wave of people who come to South Africa for diverse reasons. It is only reasonable and fair that the legislative arm of the South African state continues to amend the legal infrastructure regulating the influx of people across our borders.
Deficiencies in the current legislation led to, inter alia, foreigners entering as tourists and changing their status and conditions to those of permit holders, recipients of permits overestimating the length of their stay, child and human trafficking, and problematic persons being permitted to remain within the South African borders.
According to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, and I quote:
Every individual shall have the right to leave any country including his own ... This right may only be subject to restrictions provided for by law for the protection of national security, law and order, public health or morality.
It should therefore follow that any legal limitation on people's movement should serve the national interest and enhance national security. In this regard, the Bill we commend to the House amends the principal Act to provide, inter alia, for the following: the designation of ports of entry, the revision of provisions relating to visas for temporary sojourn in the Republic, the revision of provisions relating to permanent residence, the revision at penal provisions; and the repeal of provisions relating to immigration practitioners.
As alluded to earlier, the use of the term "permit" for certain types of temporary residence permits creates a misperception for the recipient of the duration of such a permit. The international use of the term suggests a long duration. On the other hand the term "visa" is generally suggestive of a short duration. It is therefore proper to remove the ambiguity by referring to permits of an inherently short duration as visas, as the Bill intends.
The insertion of section 9A empowers the Minister both to designate and to withdraw the designation of any place which complies with prescribed requirements as a port of entry or exit. We deem it necessary that such powers vest with the Minister in order to ensure that only legitimate places are used for this crucial function of national significance. In order to meet our objective for South Africans to feel and be safe we cannot fail to exercise due care.
In this regard, it is fallacious to insist that those who enter the country should not be screened at the port of entry on the basis of a lack of capacity of the departmental personnel to effectively perform that function. While capacity as a necessary element of effective implementation cannot be gainsaid, security of citizens is paramount. It is common cause that South Africa's geographical location renders the Republic attractive, even to crime syndicates that find this country logistically convenient for their illegal trafficking of illicit goods. The envisioned screening can only serve national interests and security. The removal of section 46 erodes the role of immigration practitioners. We deem this development necessary for the enhancement of reliable records of immigrants. It is necessary that persons keeping permits or visas present themselves in person before the immigration officials and/or Home Affairs offices. However, the activities of immigration practitioners tend to impede personal contact with applicants as practitioners present only files to the immigration officials, thus inadvertently replacing applicants. Hon members will agree with us that without reliable statistics on immigrants we cannot plan appropriately.
It has been the practice of some asylumseekers, after being issued with their asylum transit permit and within the 14-day period of validity, to engage in unseemly activities or become dissipated and undetectable in local communities. In this regard, we ought to welcome the amendment to section 23(1) of the principal Act to reduce the validity period to five days. The onus is now placed on the asylumseeker to report to the nearest refugee reception office within five days. This will serve to curtail the propensity to engage in wrong activities and to disappear and be unaccounted for.
We want to commend to the House the amendment of section 15 of the principal Act to provide for the issuing of a business visa to a foreigner who intends to establish or invest in a business that is prescribed as being in the national interest. I want to submit to this House that doing business is a commendable act. However, business that seeks to amass profit at all cost while negating its responsibility to sustain the livelihood of its workers and the communities in its vicinity cannot be in the national interest. It is vital that those who seek to invest in our country be directed to invest in job creation and infrastructure developing sectors rather than those that serve to boost the sole interest of such business.
In the same vein, section 21(1) is appropriately substituted to make provision for the issuing of corporate permits to corporate applicants who conduct business in the sectors that are published in the Gazette from time to time.
In order to strengthen our knowledge of the identity of foreigners who enter our country, we ought to support the amendment that all persons in charge of conveyances should only enter the Republic at a port of entry. It is vital that such conveyances electronically transmit passenger information as prescribed to the director-general in respect of each person. This must also happen when conveyances leaves the Republic. Those who argue for convenience should first weigh the risk of inconvenience versus the risk of national insecurity.
It is vital, as alluded to earlier, that foreigners who enter the country should disclose their true intention for coming to South Africa up front. Provision to change one's status once in the country presented the challenge of people applying for visitors' or medical treatment permits only to later convert them to residence permits. We therefore welcome the amendment to exclude the holders of visitors' permits and medical treatment permits from changing their status while in the Republic.
The ANC government is committed to facilitating the easy entrance and exit of foreigners through our country for investment of financial resources in the economy, contributing to social and cultural development, investment of skills and experience in order to promote economic growth, and promoting tourism and facilitating academic exchange within the Southern African Development Community, SADC. However, it is in the national interest to ensure that foreigners entering the Republic under false pretences are precluded from changing their status and the conditions attached to their permits. We have declared this year the year of job creation and therefore everybody, foreigners not excluded, should ensure that decent employment is created.
Parliamentary processes were followed regarding the processing of the amending Bill. Adverts were published in print media, public hearings were held with stakeholders, all parties were given enough time to consult with their principals and no one was left out. So, we ask the House to support the Bill. Thank you, Deputy Speaker. [Applause.]