Pressure Group Threatens DHA shutdown

Abigail Visagie

Civic organisation Soil of Africa (SOA) has taken a stance and given the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) seven days to address the alarming crisis of allegedly undocumented immigrants accessing South Africa’s public healthcare facilities and public schools without proper verification. The movement that poses as an organisation designed to address the staggering levels of youth unemployment and advocate for marginalised communities is threatening to shut down the Department of Home Affairs until something is done. The movement’s chairperson, Bongani King Ramontja, mentioned that the department has placed South Africa in complete disregard, as their negligence has placed unbearable strain on our public resources and endangered the well-being of South African citizens. Ramontja has confirmed to The Gauteng Times that DHA responded to their demands within three days and a roundtable discussion was held with the Chief Director at Head Office, Baba Zamxaka and her team. “We had a very successful roundtable discussion where Zamxaka confided that the department was given 24 months to sort out blocked identity documents and was further given an urgent 17 months to sort out 750 000 blocked identity documents,” confirmed Ramontja. The chairperson further added that Zamxaka had mentioned that DHA reached out to various entities and gazettes to assist with getting in contact with undocumented nationals. “As SOA, we vowed to assist in this regard since we have a database of 260 000 undocumented nationals. SOA and the department reached a consensus to at least unblock 50 unidentified nationals to earn the trust of the movement, which they committed to and had done,” said Ramontja. According to Ramonja, the relationship eventually turned sour when Zamxaka allegedly mentioned that the African National Congress (ANC) wanted to align with SOA, which Ramonja turned down because the movement is not politically affiliated. “Based on our decision not to align with the political party, Zamxaka retreated and has not responded ever since,” said Ramontja. Ramontja confirmed to this newspaper that SOA will be marching to the DHA offices in Tshwane on 6 October 2025. “There is a 62.7% unemployment rate in the country, which is mostly attributed to undocumented nationals. In most cases, this leads to attempted suicide because children are unable to further their studies due to a lack of identity,” said Ramontja. The movement’s key concerns are the healthcare crisis, as public clinics and hospitals are overwhelmed and understaffed. Ramontja mentioned that their concern also includes schools facing crippling resource strain. “Despite the South African Schools Act, South African children are often sidelined, while bribes to corrupt officials allegedly enable undocumented learners to bypass processes,” mentioned Ramontja. “We are also concerned about the breakdown of enforcement as weak immigration control has forced communities to defend their own facilities, creating tensions and hostility towards migrants - a direct result of Home Affairs’ failures. We have concluded that we are going to be radical about this until DHA assists affected communities across South Africa,” concluded Ramontja.