Cape Town - Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo complained on Tuesday that she has been the victim of racial profiling by immigration officers at the city's international airport.
She made the claim at the launch in Cape Town of the home affairs' department's immigration branch, an upgrading of what was previously only a chief directorate.
Speaking to an audience that included President Thabo Mbeki and Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, she welcomed the establishment of the branch, but said there were still challenges at the city airport.
"You still experience that old order where it's your colour that speaks. Even if you move to the line that is saying you are declaring nothing, it still... it depends who you are," she said.
The people who were pulled aside for checks were still in most cases those who had a "darker skin", whether they were South African or not.
"I'm pulled on the side every time I come from some international trip," she said.
Mapisa-Nqakula said in reply she had taken note of the mayor's remarks, and that her department had decided to put up separate counters for passport holders from African countries.
"[This is] at least to restore the dignity of Africans," she said. "And we hope that this should make a difference."
She also said some members of the Pan African Parliament, which has been meeting in Gauteng, had complained about how they were handled by immigration officials.
The matter had been resolved, and the MPs issued with multi-entry visas valid for a year.