The ANC ignores at its and our peril the huge number of illegal residents here, estimated at 3-million. None of these unfortunates qualify for the existing grants or for the new R350 monthly grant. They also fall outside Unemployment Insurance Fund relief. How the governing party thinks they will survive is a good question.

Before the pandemic, most of the illegals operated quite well in the informal sector, but the lockdown has largely shut off these opportunities. It is politically popular to let these uninvited neighbours stew in their own juice. Even the normally balanced Tito Mboweni has weighed in against them. But one does not have to value their contribution to the economy to take note of their plight...

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