Johannesburg  - South African Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said Tuesday that the country is not going to tighten border controls despite many illegal immigrants entering the country.

"Economic migrants will always find a way of moving into areas where they shouldn't be," she told reporters in Johannesburg, according to the South African press agency Sapa.

"You are not going to be able to prevent that," she said, adding that the worst thing South Africa could do was "to go back to the past where we had electric fences meant to restrict people."

Tighter border controls would "actually encourage illegal migration."

Mapisa-Nqakula was speaking at a media briefing on immigration logistics for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and how African countries would be accommodated to attend the event.

"Our emphasis is on facilitation of movement rather than tighter border control ... then you know who is in the country and what they are doing," she said. (dpa)