Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola told a fundraising gala dinner hosted by the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation on Thursday night that his small business development counterpart, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, was developing legislation in relation to foreign nationals doing business in South Africa.

“(The minister) is also developing legislation in relation to foreign nationals doing business in our country - which sectors of the economy can they play in and where and how? That is the kind of legislation she is busy with and we are hoping that soon it will be released for public engagement,” Lamola said.

He said the reality was that foreign nationals were needed in certain sectors of the economy for it to grow.

“The legislation will also have to cover and be realistic to such kind of dynamics because we are not going to wake up and have a massive deportation of Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Lesotho nationals,” Lamola said.

“We need to put in place legislation that will be able to set aside and strike a clear balance that will help us to still grow the economy for the benefit of everyone in South Africa, but still be able to say there are sectors that we need to regulate and be clearly stated that no foreign national can run this kind of a business”.

Lamola denied this was protectionism. “Because South Africa is the most industrialised economy on the continent, we are going to be the biggest beneficiaries of the Africa Free Trade Agreement. We don’t have the luxury of closing our borders altogether.”

Lamola also spoke of the challenges he had been battling since his appointment. “What we are grappling with is that those who have looted the state did not just loot money for the building of houses, at Eskom or anywhere. They have also looted the money that is supposed to prosecute them,” he said.

IOL