E/CN.4/1999/15/Add.1 page 15 B. Immigration control : rupture or continuity? 1. South African immigration policy 54. South Africa’s immigration policy is geared to control and expulsion rather than to a regulation of the movement of people that takes account of its and its SADEC partners’ socio-economic interests together with the geopolitical and economic realities dictated by its integration into the world economy. Its policy may be summarized thus: the Constitution gives South Africans the right to earn their living and access to health care, education, housing, etc; the presence on South African soil of foreigners with no legal status infringes (or limits) those rights. Immigration controls, by shielding South Africans from any competition for work and social services, thus protect their constitutional rights. 55. Two laws underpin current immigration policy: (a) The South African Citizenship Act of 1995, which defines three categories for acquiring South African citizenship (birth, descent and naturalization); (b) The Aliens Control Act of 1991: until 1986, under the apartheid regime racial origin governed the granting of citizen or permanent resident status in South Africa. Those accorded permanent residence or citizenship had to be “readily assimilable by the white inhabitants”. In 1986, this racist clause was deleted by legislation. The Aliens Control Act distinguishes between three categories of foreigner : those in possession of legal entry documents, undocumented persons or illegal entrants, and refugees. The 1991 law granted the administration extended powers in respect of the entry and exit of foreigners, without providing adequate legal guarantees; it was thus amended in 1995. There are some regrets that the Government did not overhaul the immigration legislation completely so as to take better account of the regional economic and social conditions which have given rise to the population movements. 56. Moreover, the amended law perpetuates the criminalization and excessive repression of illegal immigration. The Aliens Control Amendment Act of 1995 makes provision for general measures aimed at strengthening the capacity of the legal system and the Ministry of the Interior to tackle illegal immigration. One clause (Section 32 (e)) also gives the Ministry of the Interior the power to take steps to ensure that optimal use has been made of the local workforce before a work permit is granted. This clause clearly shows the government’s commitment to a self-sufficient position that favours its own citizens exclusively, a stance which, according to some of those interviewed, contradicts the country’s involvement in the development of the sub-region made up by the SADC States. 57. Nevertheless, two positive measures taken by the South African state must be recognized : the first, granted by President Mandela in 1995, concerns 50 000 illegal miners from two states that are highly dependent on South Africa: Lesotho and Mozambique. The second amnesty, decreed in 1996, concerns illegal persons from the SADC countries and Angola; those who entered South Africa