'Asylum abused by fortune seekers'

Saturday April 22, 2006 (SA)

Asylum in South Africa is being abused by fortune seekers, the Freedom Front Plus said. Thursday's statement by home affairs acting director general Gcinumzi Ntlakana that the department has already granted asylum to more than 29,000 asylum seekers and that there were a further 103,410 outstanding applications to be processed, proves that South Africa had "become a haven for every Tom, Dick and Harry", FF Plus spokesman Corne Mulder said. "It is disconcerting that more than 50 percent of the asylum seekers come from places such as Pakistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe," he said. Normal practice was that only people who found themselves in life-threatening situations sought asylum from other countries. "These asylum seekers whose applications are still pending are already in South Africa and are therefore a burden on the social structures of the country." More than 130,000 people had streamed into South Africa over thousands of kilometres of borders with various neighbouring countries. "The government may see it as a compliment, but it is in reality nothing more than mainly fortune seekers who have absolutely no contribution to make to South Africa." "That while there are already millions of South Africans who are unemployed," Mulder said. Sapa