South Africa needs to become much more welcoming to skilled migrants, the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) said on Thursday.

"A failure of political leadership, compounded by bureaucratic incapacity, means that South Africa has neither managed the costs, nor exploited the benefits, of migration," the centre said, following a workshop on the matter.

The country needs to recognise that people "come and go" and these flows should be managed with simple, flexible, humane and intelligent policies.

The centre considered the anti-foreigner violence of May 2008 the most dramatic proof yet of the country's "ineffectual" migration management.

The country has a backlog of over 200 000 asylum-seekers with many more skilled people leaving the country.

"Yet, South Africa makes little or no effort to explore the global market for the skills that could make an enormous difference to development, growth and employment prospects."

It recommended an undemanding points system to screen applicants which would have to be simpler than the Australian or Canadian approach, and "less picky".

The CDE said a large population of "irregular migrants" creates opportunities for crime and corruption and increases the likelihood that migrants will be unfairly exploited or will become victims of xenophobic attacks sparked by perceived competition for jobs, housing and other public resources.

"South Africa needs clear and bold leadership on the issue of migration to create public confidence that it is managing borders competently, humanely and in the national interest.

"Citizens need to be reassured that immigrants are not getting access to scarce resources unfairly."

The CDE is an independent policy research and advocacy organisation focusing on national development issues and their relationship to economic growth.

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