Africa-Press – South-Africa. The US has condemned “in the strongest terms” South Africa’s recent detention of its officials performing their duties to provide humanitarian support to Afrikaners, a claim the country has denied. The US also said on Thursday the public release of US officials’ passport information was an unacceptable form of harassment.
“This can only be seen as an attempt to intimidate US government personnel in South Africa on official business. The US will not tolerate such behaviour toward its government’s officials, or toward any of its citizens, who are legally and peacefully operating abroad.”The US said failure by South Africa to hold to account those responsible will result in “severe consequences”.
However, home affairs minister Leon Schreiber said on Wednesday the department embarked on an operation to enforce immigration laws after intelligence reports indicated a number of Kenyans had entered South Africa on tourist visas and had illegally taken up work at a centre processing applications of “refugees” to the US.
Schreiber said this was despite the fact that earlier visa applications for Kenyans to perform the work had been lawfully declined by the department. He said during the operation, seven Kenyan nationals were discovered engaging in work despite being in possession of tourist visas. They were issued with deportation orders.
Schreiber said no US officials were arrested in the process, the law enforcement operation was not conducted at a diplomatic site and no members of the public were harassed.
In a statement on Thursday, the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco) said the recent deportation of seven Kenyan nationals by the home affairs department was conducted in strict accordance with South African immigration law.
“The individuals were engaged in work without the necessary work permits. The government will not negotiate its sovereignty and the implementation of the rule of law,” Dirco said. It said it had noted an “unsubstantiated allegation” regarding the private information of US officials.
“South Africa treats all matters of data security with the utmost seriousness and operates under stringent legal and diplomatic protocols. We categorically reject any suggestion of state involvement in such actions.”
Dirco said it remained committed to principled and transparent diplomacy. “Official channels have been opened with the US government to seek clarity on the allegation and to reinforce that our bilateral engagements must be grounded in mutual respect and factual dialogue.”
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