Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber says government has repatriated more than 30,000 undocumented foreign nationals from eThekwini alone as part of what he described as an unprecedented repatriation operation, with tens of thousands of people already returned through a centralised government process.
Speaking on the sidelines of his visit to the Beitbridge Border Post in Limpopo on Wednesday, Schreiber said 525 buses had so far been processed by government during the operation, IOL reported.
"In terms of the repatriation process overall, there were over 30,000 individuals out of eThekwini alone that we've repatriated. 'The latest number of buses from the government side that we've processed is 525 buses, so indeed we're looking at tens of thousands of individuals that's already been successfully repatriated," he said.
Schreiber described the operation as "a massive operation" that was "truly unprecedented", saying its scale reflected the coordinated effort by the Inter-Ministerial Committee and various government departments.
He said government had moved away from decentralised processing centres across the country and instead established a single secure processing facility in Musina to streamline the repatriation process.
