An analysis of the opinions of African immigrants on service delivery by the Department of Home Affairs, South Africa

Abstract

This paper is an investigation into the views of African immigrants in South Africa on vital services that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) renders to immigrants, such as issuing work permits, study permits, permanent residence permits, marriage certificates, and conferring South African citizenship. The broad research question this paper deals with concerns how the ideology of ‘Makwerekwere’ influences the Department of Home Affairs’ service delivery to African immigrants. The views of 200 randomly sampled African immigrants based in Pretoria were used to analyse the effectiveness of the DHA in performing its duties as a government department. In so doing, the researchers profiled the immigrants and tried to unpack their views about the technical functions and competence of the department. The findings suggest that the service delivery rendered to African foreigners by the DHA is generally poor and discriminatory, as it is largely shaped by the popular ideology of ‘Makwerekwere’ within which African immigrants are imagined and treated as the out-group and excluded from belonging and the formal and informal benefits of  citizenship. While making the point that ‘Makwerekwere” is not an official government policy, the paper recommends that the state has a role to play in not only reorienting its citizens, but also evolving a more inclusive model of belonging for African immigrants in South Africa in order to reduce inter-group anxiety.