US MUSICIAN and actor Dante Terrell Smith, also known as Mos Def and Yasiin Bey, has been booted from South Africa after being declared undesirable by the Department of Home Affairs.
Bey was given a deadline to leave the country by last night.
Director-general Mkuseli Apleni declared that Bey was an undesirable person after he was found to be in the country illegally.
In January this year, he was arrested after trying to enter the country with a World Passport, an unofficial travel document which Bey claimed allowed him to travel anywhere in the world.
Bey received the World Passport from the World Service Authority (WSA), a Washington-based company.
WSA has been issuing these unofficial passports to stateless individuals since the 1950s, and identifies carriers as human beings rather than citizens.
Apleni held a media briefing in Pretoria yesterday to clarify the matter.
“Earlier in the year, Mr Smith Bey was arrested in Cape Town following his attempt to leave South Africa using a document called a World Passport, which South Africa does not recognise as a valid passport.
“Following this incident, the department levelled criminal charges against him.
“Before that process was finalised, the department received a written apology from Mr Smith Bey for contravening the provisions of the Immigration Act, No 13 of 2002.
“Mr Smith Bey had also contravened the South African Passports and Travel Documents Act, No 4 of 1994,” Apleni said.
Bey had apologised, acknowledging that a world passport was not a valid passport in terms of the Immigration Act.
“The department is satisfied with the apology, and has agreed in principle for him to depart from South Africa on Tuesday, November 22.
“Based on his apology and the confirmation that he will depart on November 22, using a valid passport, the department will withdraw the charges against him on Friday, November 25, in his absence,” Apleni added.
He said Bey could apply for a waiver, for good cause, in terms of Section 2 of the Immigration Act of 2002.
“There are laws in place to be respected by all persons, the better to protect all citizens and all visitors. This way we promote the rule of law, and ensure all people in the country feel and are safe,” he said.
Bey had joined the line-up at new SA online radio station The Eye on Thursday last week.
The Eye was launched by radio veterans Jon Savage and Catherine Grenfell, and has been running for little more than a month.
Bey and producer Ferrari Sheppard had been the latest additions to the line-up.