March and March leaders said if Home Affairs moved the registration of asylum seekers online, the organisation would move its protests online as well.
The movement yesterday vowed to intensify its fight against illegal immigration online following reports that Home Affairs has launched an online system to process asylum applications.
It was recently reported that the organisation planned to write to the Department of Home Affairs to demand an explanation of the system. The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration (IMC) said the system was expected to be ready by 10 November. The organisation said the system would be worse than the physical registration process, which was recently halted following widespread protests.
The Department of Home Affairs' directive on processing asylum applications followed a Constitutional Court judgment that found certain sections of the Immigration Act unconstitutional. The directive was withdrawn after widespread protests in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The protests turned violent, with cars being torched and businesses being looted and set alight in the Durban CBD.
"The system of moving these applications online is much worse than queuing at an immigration centre. This system essentially means that there are no borders in the country and that everyone could simply apply and come here.
"The Department of Home Affairs claims that it rejected 95% of all applications. The fact of the matter is that this means 5% still get through. To put these numbers into context, if one million people apply, that means 50,000 could be granted entry. Those are the numbers and the context that South Africans must understand. We would have millions of foreign nationals on top of the millions who are already living in the country illegally.
"If they go ahead with moving these applications online, we will move our protests online to ensure that South Africans are aware of what this means and its impact on them and the country," he said.
Dube reiterated that March and March would not accept what he described as a concerted effort to undermine South Africans.
"We have to call these actions what they are: a systematic replacement of South Africans by foreign nationals, with the assistance of the South African government," Dube said.
"It is clear that, after marching for 21 months, during which South Africans expressed concerns about the presence of undocumented migrants in the country, a decision such as this should not be made."
The government appears to be scrambling to respond to the issue. The IMC said this week that it was exploring an appropriate response to implementing the Constitutional Court's order. It also said it might ask the court for a supervisory order that would allow it to implement the order in an orderly manner under the court's supervision. This would allow the Department of Home Affairs to build the capacity needed to address the situation.
IMC chairperson Mamokolo Kubayi said the government would improve its communication so that people understood what they needed to do amid concerns and mistrust fuelled by misinformation. She said the online system would allow applicants to make bookings before attending appointments in person. This would improve turnaround times and allow officials to capture applicants' data. She acknowledged that South Africans had raised legitimate concerns that some people were abusing the system and said measures were needed to address this.