Officials say the country is burdened with more than 24,000 non-citizens held in its prisons

The South African government is advancing consultations within the Justice, Crime Prevention, and Security Cluster to establish a law that would facilitate the transfer of foreign nationals serving time in South African prisons.

This initiative, spearheaded by Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald, is being undertaken in conjunction with discussions with Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries to forge bilateral agreements for the repatriation of these inmates once legislative provisions are enacted.

South Africa is grappling with a substantial population of over 24,000 foreign nationals incarcerated in its facilities. The financial burden of housing these individuals is astronomical, amounting to a staggering R11,112,000 per day.

This issue has come to the forefront as MPs across the political spectrum, including ActionSA's Delereen James and MK Party's David Skosana, have raised concerns regarding the increasing number of foreign prisoners and the accompanying fiscal and logistical challenges posed by their ongoing detention.

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James asked Groenewald about the steps his department has taken to improve deportation processes for foreign nationals found guilty of committing crimes in the country, in light of the ever-increasing numbers of foreign nationals in prisons and the immense fiscal and facility strain they cause.

Skosana enquired whether there have been any inmates who have been deported to their countries since April 1, and the envisaged timeline for the expected deportations to resume.

In his response, Groenewald acknowledged that there were currently no existing bilateral agreements with other countries for the deportation of foreign national prisoners to their countries.

"South Africa does not have enabling domestic legislation to regulate and facilitate the transfer of sentenced foreign offenders, including South Africans incarcerated in foreign countries, to serve their sentences in their countries of origin," he said.

"The department is at an advanced stage of consultation within the Justice, Crime Prevention, and Security Cluster to formalise the interstate transfer of sentenced offenders, as there is currently no legal provision for transferring sentenced foreign nationals to their country of origin."

Groenewald previously said his department started last year to find a way to amend the Criminal Procedure Act to make it possible to deport foreign national prisoners back to their countries of origin.

Asked by James whether his department has utilised any bilateral or multilateral international relations to ensure the fair sharing of deportation-related costs with the countries of citizenship of the foreign prisoners, Groenewald said they were engaged with neighbouring countries on the matter.

"Department of Correctional Services has been consulting with the neighbouring SADC member states and (they) have responded positively to enter into bilateral agreements once the domestic process has been concluded," said Groenewald.

He added that his department was responsible for identifying foreign nationals in its detention facilities and reporting them to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) for deportation.

Groenewald also said the DHA establishes the nationality of such offenders and initiates the deportation of those whose stay in the country was illegal or undesirable.

"It is the responsibility of the DCS to hand over such offenders to the relevant authorities either for release or deportation based on status confirmed by DHA."

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said his department has spent R206 million on the deportation of 113,837 illegal immigrants in the past three financial years. Responding to Patriotic Alliance MP Millicent Lorato Mathopa, Schreiber said his department spent R32.2m in 2022/23, R67.6m the following year, and R78.1m in 2024/25. The number of illegal immigrants rose from 22,560 in 2022/23 to 51,650 in the financial year ending in March this year.

First published by IOL

(RT.com)