South African opposition leader, Herman Mashaba has condemned his government's directive to allow children of undocumented foreigners, including Zimbabweans, to attend schools in that country.
For the 2025 academic year, South Africa's Department of Basic Education (DBE) ordered schools to admit all learners, regardless of their documentation status.
According to the memo, those set to benefit include students who fail to provide identification for the country's matric years and undocumented foreign pupils.
A significant portion of these children are Zimbabweans, often trafficked across the border to parents working illegally in South Africa.
Mashaba, who leads Action SA, said had he been in authority he would not allow any undocumented individual or learner to benefit from South Africa's already strained resources.
He was speaking on South Africa's national broadcaster SABC.
"We live in a country where a huge percentage of our public schools particularly in poor areas are dilapidated, in an environment where we do not have teachers, where our education system is dire," said Mashaba.
He said government's decision to allow children of undocumented immigrants to learn without proper documentation encourages more unregistered learners from various countries to come for subsidised education.
"This is because South Africa now seems to be a country where you do not need passports or VISAs, they just have to walk through our porous borders. Our sovereignty is not there anymore."
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An unquantifiable number of Zimbabweans work in South Africa illegally.
They were forced to brave trekking down south, passing through a crocodile-infested Limpopo river, by Zimbabwe's continuously worsening economy that has destroyed hopes of finding jobs.
Zimbabweans form a unit of foreigners that include Mozambicans, Malawians and Somalis, which has over the past decades fallen victim to xenophobic vigilante groups chasing them out of South Africa. This includes the infamous Dudula militia.
Added Mashaba: "I do not understand the logic behind this. The people who made this decision want to make sure that South Africans are as poor as possible.
"We know our neighbouring countries are dysfunctional as a result of South Africa also not assisting but we are making matters worse.
"I am not sure who they are trying to satisfy. If I had my way, there was no way we would allow anyone without documentation in our country.
"Allowing them to use services when we cannot afford them for our own people (does not make sense). You even find in some schools children numbering 90 in a class."
This is not the first time a senior official has questioned the use of public resources by illegal immigrants in the rainbow nation.
In 2022, a health official, Phophi Ramathuba, was recorded chastising a Zimbabwean woman who had travelled to South Africa for medical attention after being involved in a car accident.
"You are killing my health system," is what Ramathuba told the woman on video.
