PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
20 July 2026
PRESIDENCY ACKNOWLEDGES AL JAMA-AH’S HISTORIC MANDELA DAY AMNESTY PROPOSAL FOR UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA — Following the precedent of other Government of National Unity (GNU) leaders who have presented key policy interventions directly to the head of state, the President of AL JAMA-AH, Hon. Ganief Hendricks, MP, has formally written to His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa calling for a nationwide amnesty and a comprehensive, constitutionally vetted overhaul of South Africa’s migration policies to regularize undocumented foreign nationals.
The Presidency has formally received, acknowledged, and expressed its sincere appreciation for the historic letter and its accompanying proposal.
The letter and proposal were highlighted during the Nelson Mandela Leadership Summit on 18 July 2026 at Freedom Park, where the Deputy Minister publicly spoke of the proposal sent to the President. Hon. Hendricks’ proposal and the Presidency’s receipt were met with resounding applause from leaders and delegates in attendance at the Mandela Day commemoration.
Addressing the summit under the rallying call to “lead like Mandela,” Hon. Hendricks urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to accept the letter and its proposed legal framework in full. Hon. Hendricks warned against policies that risk isolating South Africa within the continent, drawing attention to concerns highlighted by Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma regarding the FIFA 2026 World Cup, where African fans supported teams like Mexico and others over South Africa. He emphasized that South Africa must champion continental solidarity rather than alienating its African neighbors.
Engaging top legal minds to draft and vet the proposed amendments to Immigration Directive No. 7 of 2026, Hon. Hendricks has also delivered the proposal directly to the Director-General of Home Affairs, Tommy Makhode, who agreed to review the document. The framework presents a human-rights-centered roadmap to resolve severe administrative backlogs, protect hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children, and formalize the status of long-term residents.
The 5 Concrete Pathways to Regularization
The core of AL JAMA-AH’s proposed framework introduces five distinct, legally vetted pathways designed to replace punitive bottlenecks with automated, legal access to documentation:
* Pathway 1: Immediate Relief for Administrative Delays (Clause 4.3) Any lawful visa applicant whose renewal or extension has been pending for over six months will receive an “Acknowledgement of Pending Application” (APA) Certificate within 72 hours. This grants immediate work, study, and residency rights while legally mandating the Department to finalize the underlying application within 30 days.
* Pathway 2A: 10-Year Regularisation Pathway (Clause 4.4) Undocumented residents who have lived continuously in South Africa for 10 or more years with no serious criminal record will be eligible for a Regularisation Permit (RP). This grants full residency, work, and trading rights, establishing a clear route toward Permanent Residency after three years and citizenship after five. Flexible community-level evidence, such as statements from employers, religious institutions, or school records, will be accepted as proof.
* Pathway 2B: Lower Threshold for SADC Nationals (Clause 4.5) In alignment with South Africa’s regional treaty obligations under the SADC Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons, SADC nationals qualify for a reduced residency threshold of five years to obtain the Regularisation Permit and its associated privileges.
* Pathway 3: Citizenship for South African-Born Individuals (Clause 4.6)Any individual born within South African borders will be entitled to citizenship, regardless of their parents’ documentation status at birth. To prevent administrative lapse, applicants receive a Protected Status Certificate (PSC) to secure their stay during processing.
* Pathway 4: Protection of Undocumented Learners (Clause 4.8)To address the crisis facing approximately 610,000 undocumented non-citizen learners and 400,000 undocumented South African learners, the proposal strictly prohibits the arrest, detention, or deportation of any student. Schools are declared off-limits for immigration enforcement, with strict penalties for officials who intimidate children.
* 12-Hour Border Humanitarian Standard (Clause 4.9) The framework classifies border delays exceeding 12 hours as humanitarian emergencies requiring the immediate provision of food, shelter, and medical care.
Strategic & Vetted Implications
6.A FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
* 6.A.1 Modernization Baseline Integration: The proposed administrative digitization and regularisation pathways under Directive 7 of 2026 will be absorbed within the existing baseline allocation of the Department of Home Affairs’ modernization budget.
* 6.A.2 Tax Base Expansion: The regularization of long-term undocumented residents will systematically broaden the national tax base through formal labor participation and PAYE/VAT collection, generating a net-positive fiscal return for National Treasury.
* 6.A.3 Emergency Funding Coordination: Any emergency localized funding required to address the humanitarian displacement corridor and health interventions at border points shall be coordinated through the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) utilizing existing statutory contingency provisions.
6.B PERSONNEL / ORGANISATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
* 6.B.1 Case-Burden Reduction: The deployment of automated, hardcoded digital timelines and Automatic Provisional Authorization (APA) Certificates will significantly reduce the manual administrative case-burden on departmental adjudicators.
* 6.B.2 Staff Orientation & Compliance: Staff will require urgent, localized orientation on processing merit-based asylum reviews rather than applying automatic time-bar rejections, directly complying with the Scalabrini judgment.
6.C LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL IMPLICATIONS
* 6.C.1 Prevention of State Litigation: This memorandum directly prevents catastrophic state litigation by aligning departmental enforcement with the unanimous 7 July 2026 Constitutional Court order in Scalabrini Centre [2026] ZACC 30, mitigating further cost orders against the Minister.
* 6.C.2 Fundamental Obligations: The regularisation pathways give effect to the state’s constitutional obligation to uphold the principle of non-refoulement and protect the rights of vulnerable children within the borders.
AL JAMA-AH maintains that transforming Directive No. 7 into law will safeguard the country’s constitutional integrity, rebuild regional trust across Africa, and provide an orderly, humane solution to a long-standing national crisis.
ENDS
Issued by Asghar Khan on behalf of Al Jama-ah
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