Nearly three years after the xenophobic violence in South African townships, some foreigners are still living in what was meant to be temporary shelters because they are afraid of going back to their former communities.
Two groups of refugees -- one near the De Deur police station in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, and the other at the Rural Institute for Education and Training (Riet) family guidance centre in Randfontein -- seem to have slipped through the cracks. The Gauteng department of social development said all camps it was responsible for had been closed down.
Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Alphonse Munyaneza said this week that it would help to "reintegrate" them back into communities.
The groups were initially housed at a camp in Akasia, Pretoria, and 10 months later (in 2009) were moved to the shelters in Orange Farm and Randfontein, which were paid for by the UNHCR for two months until the refugees could find alternative accommodation.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian outside the Riet centre, a large, well-kept building with tight security, Abdul Ahli from Somalia said he feared for his life if he returned to the townships.
"I am a human being. I don't want to die in South Africa. I don't want to be killed by someone who doesn't even know my language," he said.
Ahli owned a spaza shop in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, before the xenophobic attacks broke out. He escaped but said: "Look here, they burnt my leg," pointing to a dark scar on his left foot.
Ahli is one of 61 refugees still living at the centre. Normally, the centre houses abused women and children.
Ivan Kortje, the centre's manager, tried to have them evicted but the group obtained a court order prohibiting him from carrying this out. He said this week that the centre was now overcrowded and he had to pay high water and electricity bills. "I will never help xenophobia victims again," he said. Kortje's attorney, Tashya Giyapersad, said: "They are claiming to be refugees but they are not. They are moving in and out freely and some of them are earning money. These people are not disenfranchised". (From the Mail and Guardian)
Monday, December 12, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
South Africa: No safe haven for Somalis
Many thousands of Somalis have fled famine and warfare at home, braving a treacherous journey across the continent to reach South Africa but some feel their new lives in Africa's richest country are little better than the misery they left behind.
"If we wanted to fight we would have stayed in our land. We didn't come here to die we came here to take care of our families," says Qorane Haji, 29, whose shop was looted and burnt down in recent months.
Mr Haji has been living in South Africa for over five years. He owns a shop in Motherwell, a township in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province.
More than 300 shops are owned by Somalis in the area, he says.
Most of the Somali population in South Africa lives in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces.
Poverty and unemployment are high in South Africa - many people in the poor communities believe that foreigners are "stealing their jobs".
Somali-owned shops have been looted or burned down as a result.
In 2008, South Africa saw a wave of xenophobic violence which shocked the nation and shook up the world's view of the "rainbow nation".
Some foreigners were necklaced - set alight with petrol doused tyres around their necks - and their shops were burned down.
Mostly Somalis, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans were targeted during the violence which left more than 100,000 foreigners displaced and at least 60 people dead.
The government's response to the crisis was to increase police presence in affected areas and to send its officials to address disgruntled communities.
But after a while the police patrols stopped and with them, the visits by officials.
Those behind the attacks were never brought to justice - after some months it was as though the attacks had never happened.
No brotherly love
Fleeing famine and warfare at home
"If we wanted to fight we would have stayed in our land. We didn't come here to die we came here to take care of our families," says Qorane Haji, 29, whose shop was looted and burnt down in recent months.
Mr Haji has been living in South Africa for over five years. He owns a shop in Motherwell, a township in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province.
More than 300 shops are owned by Somalis in the area, he says.
Most of the Somali population in South Africa lives in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces.
No-one can save us, we came to South Africa to be safe but we have become targets of bad men who kill us just because we are not from here”
Poverty and unemployment are high in South Africa - many people in the poor communities believe that foreigners are "stealing their jobs".
Somali-owned shops have been looted or burned down as a result.
In 2008, South Africa saw a wave of xenophobic violence which shocked the nation and shook up the world's view of the "rainbow nation".
Some foreigners were necklaced - set alight with petrol doused tyres around their necks - and their shops were burned down.
Mostly Somalis, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans were targeted during the violence which left more than 100,000 foreigners displaced and at least 60 people dead.
The government's response to the crisis was to increase police presence in affected areas and to send its officials to address disgruntled communities.
But after a while the police patrols stopped and with them, the visits by officials.
Those behind the attacks were never brought to justice - after some months it was as though the attacks had never happened.
No brotherly love
More than 32,000 documented Somalis, Some say many more illegally the Second largest group of asylum seekers in South Africa. Many have set up shops in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces.
Fleeing famine and warfare at home
"When they came in 2008 my brother and I were sleeping inside the shop, he was in another room. A group of men came in, shot him and burned the shop down - I was lucky to escape," Mr Haji recalls.
It took him more than six months to rebuild the store then but the attacks have now resumed.
"Xenophobia is back," he says.
A few months ago - some men burned down his shop again. He says the ordeal made him feel "unsafe and unwanted".
His brother Anwar Haji, 28, agrees.
"No-one can save us, we came to South Africa to be safe but are being killed just because we are foreigners," he says.
Many Somalis own spaza shops - makeshift kiosks usually run from private houses or a shack of corrugated iron.
The authorities have dismissed reports of xenophobia, saying the attacks are due to business rivalry.
The Haji brothers are once more rebuilding their shop
This has done little to allay the fears of foreigners, who say they are victimised daily by locals who call them "makwerekwere", a derogatory term used for foreigners.
The Department of Home Affairs, in charge of registering refugees and asylum seekers says there are more than 32,000 documented Somalis living in South Africa.
But some say this is an underestimate because many more have come into the country illegally.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says Somali nationals are the second largest group of asylum seekers in South Africa - after Zimbabweans.
'Unfair competition'
The latest influx of Somalis has sparked fears that relations between Somali and local shop-owners could worsen, says Abdi Habarwa, 45 a spokesperson for the Somali community in the Eastern Cape.
Somalis and other foreigners were the victims of vicious attacks in 2008
But Daluxolo Mpengu, 51, who heads the Nelson Mandela Spaza Forum of South Africa (NMSFSA), a new association established by South African businesses owners in and around Port Elizabeth, insists that foreigners are exploiting their market.
"We have found that some foreigners own more than one shop in the same area which is bad competition for us," Mr Mpengu told the BBC.
He says they don't condone xenophobia, but says foreigners need to abide by certain rules if that want to continue business in the townships or have their shops closed.
NMSFSA says foreigners are not allowed to open a shop within 500 metres of an existing business selling the same wares.
This rule will later extend to local shop owners, the association says.
Many residents, however, don't want the Somalis to be forced to close their shops and are happy with the low prices and wide variety of goods they stock.
Mr Habarwa also owns a shop in Motherwell and hopes the new guidelines will help to ease tensions.
He says he uses some of the money he makes to support his relatives living in the world's largest refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya.
"I am not the only one depending on the money the shops makes. This shop is helping me to give my family in Dadaab a better life," says Mr Habarwa.
He fears they could suffer if the continued attacks mean he has to close down his shop.- BBC
It took him more than six months to rebuild the store then but the attacks have now resumed.
"Xenophobia is back," he says.
A few months ago - some men burned down his shop again. He says the ordeal made him feel "unsafe and unwanted".
His brother Anwar Haji, 28, agrees.
"No-one can save us, we came to South Africa to be safe but are being killed just because we are foreigners," he says.
Many Somalis own spaza shops - makeshift kiosks usually run from private houses or a shack of corrugated iron.
The authorities have dismissed reports of xenophobia, saying the attacks are due to business rivalry.
The Haji brothers are once more rebuilding their shop
This has done little to allay the fears of foreigners, who say they are victimised daily by locals who call them "makwerekwere", a derogatory term used for foreigners.
The Department of Home Affairs, in charge of registering refugees and asylum seekers says there are more than 32,000 documented Somalis living in South Africa.
But some say this is an underestimate because many more have come into the country illegally.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says Somali nationals are the second largest group of asylum seekers in South Africa - after Zimbabweans.
'Unfair competition'
The latest influx of Somalis has sparked fears that relations between Somali and local shop-owners could worsen, says Abdi Habarwa, 45 a spokesperson for the Somali community in the Eastern Cape.
Somalis and other foreigners were the victims of vicious attacks in 2008
But Daluxolo Mpengu, 51, who heads the Nelson Mandela Spaza Forum of South Africa (NMSFSA), a new association established by South African businesses owners in and around Port Elizabeth, insists that foreigners are exploiting their market.
"We have found that some foreigners own more than one shop in the same area which is bad competition for us," Mr Mpengu told the BBC.
He says they don't condone xenophobia, but says foreigners need to abide by certain rules if that want to continue business in the townships or have their shops closed.
NMSFSA says foreigners are not allowed to open a shop within 500 metres of an existing business selling the same wares.
This rule will later extend to local shop owners, the association says.
Many residents, however, don't want the Somalis to be forced to close their shops and are happy with the low prices and wide variety of goods they stock.
Mr Habarwa also owns a shop in Motherwell and hopes the new guidelines will help to ease tensions.
He says he uses some of the money he makes to support his relatives living in the world's largest refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya.
"I am not the only one depending on the money the shops makes. This shop is helping me to give my family in Dadaab a better life," says Mr Habarwa.
He fears they could suffer if the continued attacks mean he has to close down his shop.- BBC
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Shop owners threaten foreigners with 'bloodbath'
Shop owners in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, have threatened "civil war" if the government does not stop what they term an "economic stampede" by foreigners.
The shopkeepers plan to march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on November 24 with businessmen from across Tshwane in protest against Somali, Pakistani, Ethiopian and Bangladeshi people operating in the township who, they say, are threatening their livelihoods
Mpane Baloyi, chairman of the Soshanguve Broader Business Forum, which was formed with the sole mandate of driving out the "intruders", said the foreigners were deliberately destroying local businesses by dropping prices, and increasing them again once local shops had closed down.
"Local-owned shops are closing down while foreigners' shops flourish," he said.
"These people have pushed us to the limit and are driving us into poverty in our own country.
"This is a ticking time bomb and there will be a bloodbath if the government continues to ignore our pleas," he said.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Dikatso Thebe would not comment on the matter yesterday, saying it was regarded as xenophobia, which is dealt with at provincial level.
Gauteng police spokesmen lieutenant-colonels Tshisikhawe Ndou and Lungelo Dlamini could not be reached for comment.
- Timeslive
The shopkeepers plan to march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on November 24 with businessmen from across Tshwane in protest against Somali, Pakistani, Ethiopian and Bangladeshi people operating in the township who, they say, are threatening their livelihoods
Mpane Baloyi, chairman of the Soshanguve Broader Business Forum, which was formed with the sole mandate of driving out the "intruders", said the foreigners were deliberately destroying local businesses by dropping prices, and increasing them again once local shops had closed down.
"Local-owned shops are closing down while foreigners' shops flourish," he said.
"These people have pushed us to the limit and are driving us into poverty in our own country.
"This is a ticking time bomb and there will be a bloodbath if the government continues to ignore our pleas," he said.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Dikatso Thebe would not comment on the matter yesterday, saying it was regarded as xenophobia, which is dealt with at provincial level.
Gauteng police spokesmen lieutenant-colonels Tshisikhawe Ndou and Lungelo Dlamini could not be reached for comment.
- Timeslive
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Sent to die Shocking fate of suspects in alleged rendition deal with Zim cops
Hawks and SA police arresting suspects and sending them over the border to be murdered.
SENIOR officials in the Hawks and SA Police Service are conducting illegal "renditions" with their Zimbabwean counterparts - by arresting "suspects" and illegally sending them across the Beit Bridge border to be murdered.
Explosive intelligence reports - listing at least three deaths - are understood to be in the possession of Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa.
They detail a "renditions" operation led by officers reporting to Hawks boss Anwa Dramat and Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mzwandile Petros.
Rendition is the illegal kidnapping and transfer of a prisoner from one country to another.
Dramat yesterday confirmed that at least three individuals identified by the Sunday Times as having been "renditioned" to a grisly fate in Zimbabwe were, in fact, taken across the border by the police. But he claimed they were properly "deported". He was unable to provide any documentary proof of this.
In just one case, the Sunday Times has evidence that Zimbabwean Witness Ndeya, 26, who was suspected of shooting a policeman in that country, was "renditioned" by the Hawks and then murdered, apparently by Zimbabwean police.
The occurrence book at Soweto's Orlando police station confirmed that Ndeya was arrested, along with his nephew and two friends, for being "illegal immigrants" on November 5 last year.
But, unlike other illegal immigrants sent to Lindela detention centre, police records show the four men were discharged at 11.55am on November 8 and driven to the Beit Bridge border by police.
In a sworn statement by one of the four, Shepard Tshuma, he named General Shadrack Sibiya and Captain Cowboy Maluleke as having arrested them.
The Zimbabwean police met their South African counterparts at the border and, according to Tshuma, "told us that we are under arrest for the murder of police officers".
Tshuma and Ndeya were detained at a Bulawayo police station before the former was released a week later.
A few days later, Tshuma said, the Zimbabwean police told the family "that Witness Ndeya was killed by other police officers".
Ndeya's death certificate confirmed he died at "Hippo Valley Farm" in Bulawayo on November 20, with the cause of death listed as "multiple gunshot wounds".
Tshuma, along with the other two surviving "renditioned" suspects, are now hiding in South Africa, after allegedly being threatened by Maluleke.
This week, the Sunday Times met the three at a secret location. They said they feared being "deported and murdered".
Tshuma said: "As soon as we were handed over to the policeman, they said they are going to kill us for murdering a policeman [and] they'll start by chopping off our hands and feet."
The Sunday Times is aware of several other individuals who have also been renditioned to Zimbabwe.
In another case, intelligence reports say Pritchard Tshuma, 24, was arrested in November last year for "murder and robbery" in Alexandra in Johannesburg and "deported" to Zimbabwe. He has since gone missing.
Another man, Gordon Dube, was arrested in Diepsloot and "renditioned" to Zimbabwe, where, sources say, he was killed by police after first having his hands chopped off.
Dramat confirmed that Ndeya, Dube and Tshuma were "all arrested as illegal immigrants" and were "deported ".
But he denied these were illegal renditions, saying everyone "followed protocol", whereby deported individuals must be handed over to an immigration official from Zimbabwe.
His spokesman, McIntosh Polela, said: "At no point did we simply hand over people to authorities without [an immigration official present], because that would constitute rendition."
This, however, is contradicted by Tshuma's statement. He said: "We passed the SA side of the border, and we parked the car inside ... I saw five African males jumping out from their cars, and they introduced themselves as Zimbabwe police officers ... [who] told us we were under arrest for [the] murder of police officers."
Such behaviour is a contravention of the Immigration Act and flouts a "special dispensation" by the government at the time that prevented Zimbabweans from being deported from South Africa.
The high court also recently ruled that authorities "acted unlawfully" in extraditing someone without guaranteeing they would not face death.
Dramat said: "We are not aware of what happened to them in Zimbabwe. It is not our mandate to do follow-ups on deported [people]."
Zimbabwean police spokes-man Oliver Mandipaka said he "can't confirm or deny that Ndeya was arrested or killed".
General Sibiya, who agreed to meet the Sunday Times, but later cancelled, said: "I don't know [Ndeya, and] I'm not in a position to sanction this."
General Petros said he "did not sanction, neither did [I have] knowledge of any illegal renditions".
Captain Maluleke refused to answer questions.
- Timeslive
SENIOR officials in the Hawks and SA Police Service are conducting illegal "renditions" with their Zimbabwean counterparts - by arresting "suspects" and illegally sending them across the Beit Bridge border to be murdered.
Explosive intelligence reports - listing at least three deaths - are understood to be in the possession of Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa.
They detail a "renditions" operation led by officers reporting to Hawks boss Anwa Dramat and Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mzwandile Petros.
Rendition is the illegal kidnapping and transfer of a prisoner from one country to another.
Dramat yesterday confirmed that at least three individuals identified by the Sunday Times as having been "renditioned" to a grisly fate in Zimbabwe were, in fact, taken across the border by the police. But he claimed they were properly "deported". He was unable to provide any documentary proof of this.
In just one case, the Sunday Times has evidence that Zimbabwean Witness Ndeya, 26, who was suspected of shooting a policeman in that country, was "renditioned" by the Hawks and then murdered, apparently by Zimbabwean police.
The occurrence book at Soweto's Orlando police station confirmed that Ndeya was arrested, along with his nephew and two friends, for being "illegal immigrants" on November 5 last year.
But, unlike other illegal immigrants sent to Lindela detention centre, police records show the four men were discharged at 11.55am on November 8 and driven to the Beit Bridge border by police.
In a sworn statement by one of the four, Shepard Tshuma, he named General Shadrack Sibiya and Captain Cowboy Maluleke as having arrested them.
The Zimbabwean police met their South African counterparts at the border and, according to Tshuma, "told us that we are under arrest for the murder of police officers".
Tshuma and Ndeya were detained at a Bulawayo police station before the former was released a week later.
A few days later, Tshuma said, the Zimbabwean police told the family "that Witness Ndeya was killed by other police officers".
Ndeya's death certificate confirmed he died at "Hippo Valley Farm" in Bulawayo on November 20, with the cause of death listed as "multiple gunshot wounds".
Tshuma, along with the other two surviving "renditioned" suspects, are now hiding in South Africa, after allegedly being threatened by Maluleke.
This week, the Sunday Times met the three at a secret location. They said they feared being "deported and murdered".
Tshuma said: "As soon as we were handed over to the policeman, they said they are going to kill us for murdering a policeman [and] they'll start by chopping off our hands and feet."
The Sunday Times is aware of several other individuals who have also been renditioned to Zimbabwe.
In another case, intelligence reports say Pritchard Tshuma, 24, was arrested in November last year for "murder and robbery" in Alexandra in Johannesburg and "deported" to Zimbabwe. He has since gone missing.
Another man, Gordon Dube, was arrested in Diepsloot and "renditioned" to Zimbabwe, where, sources say, he was killed by police after first having his hands chopped off.
Dramat confirmed that Ndeya, Dube and Tshuma were "all arrested as illegal immigrants" and were "deported ".
But he denied these were illegal renditions, saying everyone "followed protocol", whereby deported individuals must be handed over to an immigration official from Zimbabwe.
His spokesman, McIntosh Polela, said: "At no point did we simply hand over people to authorities without [an immigration official present], because that would constitute rendition."
This, however, is contradicted by Tshuma's statement. He said: "We passed the SA side of the border, and we parked the car inside ... I saw five African males jumping out from their cars, and they introduced themselves as Zimbabwe police officers ... [who] told us we were under arrest for [the] murder of police officers."
Such behaviour is a contravention of the Immigration Act and flouts a "special dispensation" by the government at the time that prevented Zimbabweans from being deported from South Africa.
The high court also recently ruled that authorities "acted unlawfully" in extraditing someone without guaranteeing they would not face death.
Dramat said: "We are not aware of what happened to them in Zimbabwe. It is not our mandate to do follow-ups on deported [people]."
Zimbabwean police spokes-man Oliver Mandipaka said he "can't confirm or deny that Ndeya was arrested or killed".
General Sibiya, who agreed to meet the Sunday Times, but later cancelled, said: "I don't know [Ndeya, and] I'm not in a position to sanction this."
General Petros said he "did not sanction, neither did [I have] knowledge of any illegal renditions".
Captain Maluleke refused to answer questions.
- Timeslive
Friday, October 21, 2011
Foreigners live in fear in Alex
Residents of Alexandra's RDP houses have reacted to menacing calls for foreigners to vacate RDP houses in the township within seven days with a mixture of fear and nonchalance.
Last weekend groups of residents, some co-ordinating their movements by phone, moved around extensions seven, nine and 10 handing out flyers and putting up posters warning foreigners living in RDP houses to vacate within seven days or risk "being pushed like animals or aliens".
"The resident [sic] of Alexandra doesn't want to revoke [presumably "revive" is meant] xenophobia, unless you give the cause to do so," the flyers read.
Anecdotes of exactly when the leaflets surfaced differ. Some residents say youths distributing them last Friday also barricaded streets with burning tyres in extension 10, whereas others in the same section say they were being shoved under doors last Saturday evening.
It is not clear how organised the groups are, although some reports have mentioned that a group calling itself the Alexandra Bonafides has claimed responsibility.
The crude pamphlets specifically mention foreigners who own RDP houses as the targets. But a Zimbabwean resident told the Mail & Guardian that every foreigner appeared to be under fire, whether living in a house or renting an adjoining room. Several single-storey houses in the Far East Bank were flanked by smaller structures occupied by tenants.
The man, a resident of extension seven who asked not to be named, said he was given a flyer on Sunday evening before being coerced into an interrogation about his living situation. "I told them to speak to my landlord, as I am just a tenant here," he said.
He told the M&G that he was playing it by ear, as he had done in 2008 when xenophobic violence engulfed the township. "There's no cause for panic just yet, but what I'm afraid of is the possibility of physical violence."
Census officials
Other residents said they were unsure how to regard the census officials, as they felt some people could use the census as a way of sourcing information about where foreigners are located.
"We aren't against the census," said Tswaleka Mathebula. "We just think that some people could hijack the process. Some people came here asking my daughter questions. When she told them her surname was Mathebula, they said: 'Ja, we know you Mathebulas and Chikanes, you're all from Maputo.'
"When I heard this, I came out and told them not to talk that shit here. We are from Giyani [in Limpopo province] and I've got all the papers for this house and every other document they could need. I didn't even ask for this house, I got it because they were building a bridge across Stjwetla [an informal settlement in Alexandra], where I lived for 10 years."
Mathebula, who lives in an RDP house with her three children and her husband, has two tenants in her yard, one from Zimbabwe.
She said that although some people had acquired their houses corruptly, the right approach was to take such grievances to the department of housing or the Alexandra Renewal Project. "They mustn't come and tell us that every Shangaan-speaking person is from Maputo."
Although most people who own RDP houses are South Africans, the housing policy does not preclude people with permanent-residence from qualifying for state housing.
The Gauteng minister for local government and housing, Humphrey Mmemezi, has called for people to provide evidence of the corruption they believe is running rampant in the Alexandra Renewal Project, which built the RDP houses.
"If we had evidence of that we would have prosecuted," said the minister's spokesperson, Motsamai Motlhaolwa. "The minister has been on record several times saying that people must come to us with evidence. Nobody must be forced to pay for an RDP house as they are for the poor."
A South African man who rents to a Malawian tenant, Phetole Rakgwahla, said he would not protect his tenant if protests turn violent.
"Our brothers don't have houses and we don't know how foreigners got them," Rakgwahla said, pointing to an RDP house. "The allocation process has gone completely haywire. We can live peacefully with one another but they mustn't think they are here forever."
Although the township was calm on Thursday, a community meeting was planned at the corner of 2nd Avenue and John Brand Street.
-- Kwanele Sosibo is the Eugene Saldanha fellow in social justice and inequality reporting supported by CAF Africa
- M&G
Last weekend groups of residents, some co-ordinating their movements by phone, moved around extensions seven, nine and 10 handing out flyers and putting up posters warning foreigners living in RDP houses to vacate within seven days or risk "being pushed like animals or aliens".
"The resident [sic] of Alexandra doesn't want to revoke [presumably "revive" is meant] xenophobia, unless you give the cause to do so," the flyers read.
Anecdotes of exactly when the leaflets surfaced differ. Some residents say youths distributing them last Friday also barricaded streets with burning tyres in extension 10, whereas others in the same section say they were being shoved under doors last Saturday evening.
It is not clear how organised the groups are, although some reports have mentioned that a group calling itself the Alexandra Bonafides has claimed responsibility.
The crude pamphlets specifically mention foreigners who own RDP houses as the targets. But a Zimbabwean resident told the Mail & Guardian that every foreigner appeared to be under fire, whether living in a house or renting an adjoining room. Several single-storey houses in the Far East Bank were flanked by smaller structures occupied by tenants.
The man, a resident of extension seven who asked not to be named, said he was given a flyer on Sunday evening before being coerced into an interrogation about his living situation. "I told them to speak to my landlord, as I am just a tenant here," he said.
He told the M&G that he was playing it by ear, as he had done in 2008 when xenophobic violence engulfed the township. "There's no cause for panic just yet, but what I'm afraid of is the possibility of physical violence."
Census officials
Other residents said they were unsure how to regard the census officials, as they felt some people could use the census as a way of sourcing information about where foreigners are located.
"We aren't against the census," said Tswaleka Mathebula. "We just think that some people could hijack the process. Some people came here asking my daughter questions. When she told them her surname was Mathebula, they said: 'Ja, we know you Mathebulas and Chikanes, you're all from Maputo.'
"When I heard this, I came out and told them not to talk that shit here. We are from Giyani [in Limpopo province] and I've got all the papers for this house and every other document they could need. I didn't even ask for this house, I got it because they were building a bridge across Stjwetla [an informal settlement in Alexandra], where I lived for 10 years."
Mathebula, who lives in an RDP house with her three children and her husband, has two tenants in her yard, one from Zimbabwe.
She said that although some people had acquired their houses corruptly, the right approach was to take such grievances to the department of housing or the Alexandra Renewal Project. "They mustn't come and tell us that every Shangaan-speaking person is from Maputo."
Although most people who own RDP houses are South Africans, the housing policy does not preclude people with permanent-residence from qualifying for state housing.
The Gauteng minister for local government and housing, Humphrey Mmemezi, has called for people to provide evidence of the corruption they believe is running rampant in the Alexandra Renewal Project, which built the RDP houses.
"If we had evidence of that we would have prosecuted," said the minister's spokesperson, Motsamai Motlhaolwa. "The minister has been on record several times saying that people must come to us with evidence. Nobody must be forced to pay for an RDP house as they are for the poor."
A South African man who rents to a Malawian tenant, Phetole Rakgwahla, said he would not protect his tenant if protests turn violent.
"Our brothers don't have houses and we don't know how foreigners got them," Rakgwahla said, pointing to an RDP house. "The allocation process has gone completely haywire. We can live peacefully with one another but they mustn't think they are here forever."
Although the township was calm on Thursday, a community meeting was planned at the corner of 2nd Avenue and John Brand Street.
-- Kwanele Sosibo is the Eugene Saldanha fellow in social justice and inequality reporting supported by CAF Africa
- M&G
Friday, October 7, 2011
Cele’s xenophobic outburst
National police commissioner Bheki Cele was forced to retract comments regarded as xenophobic at a breakfast meeting of officers in Khayelitsha on Thursday. But later in the day, he was back to his explosive self, calling on police to confront violent criminals with all the force at their disposal.
Unveiling the police’s holiday season safety plan for the Western Cape, Cele claimed in an address to officers that “people who jump borders” were flooding into South Africa, competing for housing and resources, and squeezing out locals in the process.
Cele said this was fuelling xenophobic violence.
“We can’t have a country that’s run by people who jump the borders,” Cele said.
Cele said Somalis had pushed out locals from business and rental property in Bellville and many other areas.
“If you rent a flat there, they come and rent you out. At the spazas, they’re better stocked than Shoprite.
“Our people have been economically displaced; all these spaza shops (in the townships) are not run by locals.”
While Cele was speaking, a member of the audience shouted: “They’re not banking!”
To this Cele asked: “One has to ask, what happens to the money?”
He said the situation, especially in townships was untenable, and would eventually reach a breaking point.
“One day, our people will revolt, and we’ve appealed to DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) to do something about it,” Cele said.
But later, pressed about his statement by a member of Khayelitsha’s Community Police Forum (CPF), Cele retracted and said there was no confusion.
“We can’t be ambiguous abut crime … if you assault a Pakistani, a Burundian, a Rwandan, that’s crime. Crime is crime, it has no face or nationality,” Cele said.
Khayelitsha has had a lull in attacks on Somali-owned spaza shops after the intervention of the local police and community structures after a spate of violence which was believed to be fuelled by rivalries with local competitors.
Police, Cele said, were spending too much of their resources on service delivery protests, which had an impact on crime fighting.
Addressing a question about police reservists, Cele said there could be no expectation that reservists would enjoy preference when applying to join the service.
“If you want to join the police, join the queue,” Cele said.
One issue police would not compromise was the requirement that all new recruits were without criminal records.
On CPFs, Cele said their responsibility was being taken away from the police administration by the ministry.
He said some CPF heads had become police apparatchiks, who were not aware of their statutory role and instead preferred to be indunas.
“They must not go to the station and tell police what to do,” said Cele.
In the Harare section of Khayelitsha, as he went on a walkabout, shaking hands and talking to children, some residents excitedly called out:”Nanku Bheki Cele!” (Here’s Bheki Cele).
After seeing Cele, Sibongeseni Mntuyedwa, 21, said Harare was not safe, especially the Endlovini informal settlement, which bordered the Wolfgat Nature Reserve.
“There are too many criminals here,” Mntuyedwa said.
“People can’t walk in the mornings to work as they face being attacked and robbed by criminals, many of whom don’t live in the area,” Mntuyedwa said.
Later, when he opened the new premises of the Milnerton police station, Cele told more than 500 people that, although murders had dropped significantly countrywide, he was taking no joy in the statistics.
Cele said the 15 000 people murdered in South Africa last year, although down from the 18 000 in 2009, was still too many.
Police officers were also being targeted by criminals, and for that Cele told officers they could not engage violent criminals peacefully.
“Then they have a confrontation with the police, their peers in this (signalling a gun).
“Then they complain about (their) human rights.
“Don’t misinterpret me, I fought for human rights. I did not fight for criminal rights.
“I never said ‘shoot to kill’, but I said when criminals go for cash heists and bank robberies, they prepare … they take their best weapons, they don’t go with broomsticks and feather dusters.
“We are not going to be cowered down by criminals.
“Police, when you go there, get ready, take your best machinery. We give teachers chalk, we give doctors stethoscopes. Criminals should be scared of the police,” Cele said.
But he reiterated that the police’s primary objective was not to shoot criminals, but to arrest them. - Cape Times
Unveiling the police’s holiday season safety plan for the Western Cape, Cele claimed in an address to officers that “people who jump borders” were flooding into South Africa, competing for housing and resources, and squeezing out locals in the process.
Cele said this was fuelling xenophobic violence.
“We can’t have a country that’s run by people who jump the borders,” Cele said.
Cele said Somalis had pushed out locals from business and rental property in Bellville and many other areas.
“If you rent a flat there, they come and rent you out. At the spazas, they’re better stocked than Shoprite.
“Our people have been economically displaced; all these spaza shops (in the townships) are not run by locals.”
While Cele was speaking, a member of the audience shouted: “They’re not banking!”
To this Cele asked: “One has to ask, what happens to the money?”
He said the situation, especially in townships was untenable, and would eventually reach a breaking point.
“One day, our people will revolt, and we’ve appealed to DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) to do something about it,” Cele said.
But later, pressed about his statement by a member of Khayelitsha’s Community Police Forum (CPF), Cele retracted and said there was no confusion.
“We can’t be ambiguous abut crime … if you assault a Pakistani, a Burundian, a Rwandan, that’s crime. Crime is crime, it has no face or nationality,” Cele said.
Khayelitsha has had a lull in attacks on Somali-owned spaza shops after the intervention of the local police and community structures after a spate of violence which was believed to be fuelled by rivalries with local competitors.
Police, Cele said, were spending too much of their resources on service delivery protests, which had an impact on crime fighting.
Addressing a question about police reservists, Cele said there could be no expectation that reservists would enjoy preference when applying to join the service.
“If you want to join the police, join the queue,” Cele said.
One issue police would not compromise was the requirement that all new recruits were without criminal records.
On CPFs, Cele said their responsibility was being taken away from the police administration by the ministry.
He said some CPF heads had become police apparatchiks, who were not aware of their statutory role and instead preferred to be indunas.
“They must not go to the station and tell police what to do,” said Cele.
In the Harare section of Khayelitsha, as he went on a walkabout, shaking hands and talking to children, some residents excitedly called out:”Nanku Bheki Cele!” (Here’s Bheki Cele).
After seeing Cele, Sibongeseni Mntuyedwa, 21, said Harare was not safe, especially the Endlovini informal settlement, which bordered the Wolfgat Nature Reserve.
“There are too many criminals here,” Mntuyedwa said.
“People can’t walk in the mornings to work as they face being attacked and robbed by criminals, many of whom don’t live in the area,” Mntuyedwa said.
Later, when he opened the new premises of the Milnerton police station, Cele told more than 500 people that, although murders had dropped significantly countrywide, he was taking no joy in the statistics.
Cele said the 15 000 people murdered in South Africa last year, although down from the 18 000 in 2009, was still too many.
Police officers were also being targeted by criminals, and for that Cele told officers they could not engage violent criminals peacefully.
“Then they have a confrontation with the police, their peers in this (signalling a gun).
“Then they complain about (their) human rights.
“Don’t misinterpret me, I fought for human rights. I did not fight for criminal rights.
“I never said ‘shoot to kill’, but I said when criminals go for cash heists and bank robberies, they prepare … they take their best weapons, they don’t go with broomsticks and feather dusters.
“We are not going to be cowered down by criminals.
“Police, when you go there, get ready, take your best machinery. We give teachers chalk, we give doctors stethoscopes. Criminals should be scared of the police,” Cele said.
But he reiterated that the police’s primary objective was not to shoot criminals, but to arrest them. - Cape Times
Home affairs resumes Zim deportations
The moratorium on deporting illegal Zimbabweans has quietly been lifted by the department of home affairs, leading to an outcry from refugee rights groups.
No deportations of Zimbabweans have taken place for almost two years while home affairs have been running the Zimbabwe documentation project (ZDP) to offer legal status to Zimbabweans living illegally in South Africa.
Organisations working with migrants are angry that the department has not been open about a memo that was circulated among the police, army and refugee offices on September 27 explaining that deportations would resume.
The Mail & Guardian has a copy of the directive issued by director general of home affairs Mkuseli Apleni to the defence force, police offices and department of home affairs branches. The directive says "it aims to give clarity on Zimbabwean nationals who are not presently detected", and outlines the procedure that officers must follow when deporting immigrants.
Home affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa would not answer questions about the directive but did issue a press release this week saying that illegal immigrants could not claim protection under South Africa's laws. "No country in the world will allow illegal immigration within its borders. This is international practice," he said.
Mamoepa told the M&G that the government had shown goodwill in attempting to regularise the status of Zimbabweans in the country and had given them a window of opportunity to hand in their fraudulent documents in return for amnesty.
People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty's Braam Hanekom said the "deportations are in direct contradiction to the recent undertakings made by home affairs director general, Mr Apleni, to Parliament not to embark on deportations of Zimbabweans until the Zimbabwean documentation project has been completed, appeals reviewed and the minister has approved deportations."
But the ZDP project is not complete. According to a research report compiled by the African Centre for Migration Studies (ACMS), "as of October 4, 145 000 permits were dispatched of 275 762 that were received, though processing was still taking place".
Creating problems
Human Rights Watch estimates that there are 1.5-million Zimbabweans in the country, although fewer than 300 000 applied for legal paperwork during the amnesty period.
ACMS senior researcher Roni Amit said the resumption of deportations was "going to create problems". She said refugee rights groups were angry because home affairs had not been transparent about resuming deportations and that media reports this week had included denials of such a directive.
Amit said police who arrested Zimbabweans and sent them to deportation centres generally did not verify whether the individuals were still waiting for permits.
The directive instructs officers to check if "the suspect has a pending application" for legal status and to conduct an interview with the suspect. But Amit was not convinced by this, saying: "The verification system does not work."
Amit said public health groups had not been given advance warning that deportations were about to start.
ACMS researcher Jo Vearey said Zimbabweans on chronic medicine for tuberculosis or HIV/Aids needed to continue taking their medication after deportation or run the risk of developing resistance to the diseases or catching multidrug resistant TB.
"Detention facilities are the perfect space for onward transmission of TB, and this poses a health risk to police officers and public immigration officials."
- M&G
No deportations of Zimbabweans have taken place for almost two years while home affairs have been running the Zimbabwe documentation project (ZDP) to offer legal status to Zimbabweans living illegally in South Africa.
Organisations working with migrants are angry that the department has not been open about a memo that was circulated among the police, army and refugee offices on September 27 explaining that deportations would resume.
The Mail & Guardian has a copy of the directive issued by director general of home affairs Mkuseli Apleni to the defence force, police offices and department of home affairs branches. The directive says "it aims to give clarity on Zimbabwean nationals who are not presently detected", and outlines the procedure that officers must follow when deporting immigrants.
Home affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa would not answer questions about the directive but did issue a press release this week saying that illegal immigrants could not claim protection under South Africa's laws. "No country in the world will allow illegal immigration within its borders. This is international practice," he said.
Mamoepa told the M&G that the government had shown goodwill in attempting to regularise the status of Zimbabweans in the country and had given them a window of opportunity to hand in their fraudulent documents in return for amnesty.
People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty's Braam Hanekom said the "deportations are in direct contradiction to the recent undertakings made by home affairs director general, Mr Apleni, to Parliament not to embark on deportations of Zimbabweans until the Zimbabwean documentation project has been completed, appeals reviewed and the minister has approved deportations."
But the ZDP project is not complete. According to a research report compiled by the African Centre for Migration Studies (ACMS), "as of October 4, 145 000 permits were dispatched of 275 762 that were received, though processing was still taking place".
Creating problems
Human Rights Watch estimates that there are 1.5-million Zimbabweans in the country, although fewer than 300 000 applied for legal paperwork during the amnesty period.
ACMS senior researcher Roni Amit said the resumption of deportations was "going to create problems". She said refugee rights groups were angry because home affairs had not been transparent about resuming deportations and that media reports this week had included denials of such a directive.
Amit said police who arrested Zimbabweans and sent them to deportation centres generally did not verify whether the individuals were still waiting for permits.
The directive instructs officers to check if "the suspect has a pending application" for legal status and to conduct an interview with the suspect. But Amit was not convinced by this, saying: "The verification system does not work."
Amit said public health groups had not been given advance warning that deportations were about to start.
ACMS researcher Jo Vearey said Zimbabweans on chronic medicine for tuberculosis or HIV/Aids needed to continue taking their medication after deportation or run the risk of developing resistance to the diseases or catching multidrug resistant TB.
"Detention facilities are the perfect space for onward transmission of TB, and this poses a health risk to police officers and public immigration officials."
- M&G
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Illegal Zimbabweans to be deported
Any undocumented Zimbabweans still in SA by the end of the government's amnesty period in July will be deported, home affairs said on Thursday.
When the July 31 moratorium extended last year to Zimbabweans expired, those who were still undocumented would be given a grace period, then sent back home, head of the Zimbabwe document project Jacob Mamabolo told reporters.
This grace period would also allow those whose applications were rejected to appeal, he said. He would not say how long this period was going to be.
Earlier this year, the number of rejected applications was just over 100 000. The high number forced the department to review them.
"The number was too high...Then it emerged there was inconsistency in the application of requirements, and we wanted to view their applications in a manner that enhances registration," Mamabolo said.
Last year, the government called on all Zimbabweans in possession of fraudulent South African IDs to return them to home affairs without being prosecuted. This also included a special dispensation and moratorium on deportations.
1.5 million Zimbabweans in SA
According to the department's statistics, there are approximately 1.5 million Zimbabweans in the country. However, the December 31 2010 deadline saw only 275 762 registering to legalise their residency.
On Thursday, the department said 133 331 permits had so far been issued to Zimbabweans. However, not all applicants had collected them.
"The figure includes those who applied for amnesty... Issuing does not mean they are collected."
Mamabolo said that despite SMSes sent to those who had not yet collected their documents, some still remained at the department. Others still needed to submit further documentation and have their fingerprints taken.
"The department continues to do everything in its power to ensure it meets its obligation to document Zimbabweans living in South Africa. However, we can only succeed with the full support of all applicants."
Documents would be kept for 30 days, and then destroyed.
The department would meet the Zimbabwean stakeholders' forum next Monday, to ask them to encourage their compatriots to collect their papers.
Mamabolo said his department had adjudicated 263 141 applications. A total of 12 621 were still outstanding.
He was confident the department would meet the July deadline to conclude the process, after which it would focus on other nationalities.
"We continue to interact with the Zimbabwean embassy and consulate to ensure the fast-tracking of the issuance of the necessary travel documents to those who applied for them."
The consulate also had until July 31 to issue passports to those who had applied.
The success of the project was also premised on support from other groups, including the insurance industry, the financial intelligence centre and major banks - where some Zimbabweans had opened accounts and acquired loans using fraudulently acquired ID books.
Many Zimbabweans had over the past few years entered South Africa illegally to escape the deteriorating political and socio-economic climate in that country. (from News24)
When the July 31 moratorium extended last year to Zimbabweans expired, those who were still undocumented would be given a grace period, then sent back home, head of the Zimbabwe document project Jacob Mamabolo told reporters.
This grace period would also allow those whose applications were rejected to appeal, he said. He would not say how long this period was going to be.
Earlier this year, the number of rejected applications was just over 100 000. The high number forced the department to review them.
"The number was too high...Then it emerged there was inconsistency in the application of requirements, and we wanted to view their applications in a manner that enhances registration," Mamabolo said.
Last year, the government called on all Zimbabweans in possession of fraudulent South African IDs to return them to home affairs without being prosecuted. This also included a special dispensation and moratorium on deportations.
1.5 million Zimbabweans in SA
According to the department's statistics, there are approximately 1.5 million Zimbabweans in the country. However, the December 31 2010 deadline saw only 275 762 registering to legalise their residency.
On Thursday, the department said 133 331 permits had so far been issued to Zimbabweans. However, not all applicants had collected them.
"The figure includes those who applied for amnesty... Issuing does not mean they are collected."
Mamabolo said that despite SMSes sent to those who had not yet collected their documents, some still remained at the department. Others still needed to submit further documentation and have their fingerprints taken.
"The department continues to do everything in its power to ensure it meets its obligation to document Zimbabweans living in South Africa. However, we can only succeed with the full support of all applicants."
Documents would be kept for 30 days, and then destroyed.
The department would meet the Zimbabwean stakeholders' forum next Monday, to ask them to encourage their compatriots to collect their papers.
Mamabolo said his department had adjudicated 263 141 applications. A total of 12 621 were still outstanding.
He was confident the department would meet the July deadline to conclude the process, after which it would focus on other nationalities.
"We continue to interact with the Zimbabwean embassy and consulate to ensure the fast-tracking of the issuance of the necessary travel documents to those who applied for them."
The consulate also had until July 31 to issue passports to those who had applied.
The success of the project was also premised on support from other groups, including the insurance industry, the financial intelligence centre and major banks - where some Zimbabweans had opened accounts and acquired loans using fraudulently acquired ID books.
Many Zimbabweans had over the past few years entered South Africa illegally to escape the deteriorating political and socio-economic climate in that country. (from News24)
Immigrants defy threats to trade in Soweto
Bangladeshi immigrant Hashim Abdullah peers behind the thick iron bars of the security barrier between himself and his customers at his shop in Soweto, South Africa's most famous township.
Abdullah, like many foreign shopkeepers in Soweto, has fortified his shop following renewed threats to drive immigrant business owners out, particularly Somalis, Pakistanis and Ethiopians.
In May he closed his shop for 10 days after a local small business group accused him of weaning away its customers.
Dozens of shops belonging to foreigners across the sprawling township also closed down, some looted and vandalised over the last two months, in anti-foreigner threats concentrated in areas around Joburg, Cape Town and in the Eastern Cape province.
“We are not entirely safe here, some people want us out but not everyone wants us to go,” said Abdullah.
Abdullah's roadside shop - housed in a derelict building and stocked with basic necessities like soap, rice, bread and soft drinks -resembles a fortress, save for two arcade games often occupied by children.
Customers slip money through a small gap between the bars and he walks to the shelves to collect the goods to be purchased.
“It is better this way because it is hard to tell who is here to cause harm or not,” he said.
Despite the hard conditions, the 42-year-old arrived in South Africa three years ago said he had no intention of abandoning his business. Instead he is planning to expand.
“This is the city of gold. People have more money here that is why I don't want to give up,” said Abdullah, who had previously owned a shop in rural Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.
Anti-immigrant tensions in South African townships have been simmering since the wave of the 2008 xenophobic violence that left some 62 people dead.
The leader of the Greater Gauteng Business Forum chairperson, Makhosana Mhlanga, a group that is calling for the expulsion of immigrants, told AFP that Soweto was out of bounds to people from outside the country.
“We don't want them in our townships, they are invading our space and taking away opportunities that should be used by local people,” said Mhlanga.
The newly formed forum is also accusing the shopkeepers of selling goods at low prices, in an attempt to frustrate their competitors. They have sent homemade “eviction notices” telling foreigners to close shop, raising tensions in the township.
Not everyone in the community agrees with him. Some welcome the foreign-owned shops, which tend to open early and close late - unlike many South African stores.
“I am against the idea of chasing the foreigners out. Their shops are close to us and you can easily walk to them when you ran out of something,” said Soweto resident Portia Selote.
One group of South Africans even staged a pro-immigrant march last march, chanting “We want the Somalis to stay” - because they said Somalis offered lower prices.
Amir Sheikh, secretary general of the Somali Community Board, admitted that his community members were trading under difficult conditions in townships.
In May a Somali shopkeeper was killed in his shop in Khayelitsha outside Cape Town, and there had been similar killings in townships around the country, according to Sheik.
But it's hard to ascribe motives to isolated incidents in a country where violent crime is alarming common, with an average 46 killings a day.
“The killings are brutal and worrying,” said Sheikh adding that he did not believe that the recent threats were fuelled by xenophobia but jealousy.
“The communities that we work with have no problems with us, it is a small group of people calling themselves business people who are jealous of us,” said Sheik. (from IOL)‘Xenophobic’ committee head lashed
Opposition MPs and Parliament guests were shocked as the chairwoman of the parliamentary oversight committee on home affairs, Maggie Maunye, implied that foreigners flocking to the country were soaking up resources and preventing South Africans from enjoying their freedom.
Maunye made the remarks on Wednesday at the conclusion of a briefing of her committee by Home Affairs officials. The delegation included deputy home affairs minister Fatima Chohan, and had dealt with the issue of refugee reception centres.
Maunye suggested South Africa should turn away foreigners, as Spain had chosen to do, and questioned human rights laws and the constitution, which she said were used as an excuse to accommodate foreigners.
“Really, this intake, for how long are we going to continue with this as South Africans?” Maunye asked. “Is it not going to affect our resources, the economy of the country?”
She continued: “I think that as the portfolio committee, we need to sit down and discuss this openly; on how long are we going to continue with the intake without the support of other countries.
“You know, we see on TV Spain turning refugees back to their countries, and here you will be told of human rights laws; you know the constitution is against that and all sorts of excuses, and here we have people who are living in poverty daily, people who are unemployed.
“We’ve never enjoyed our freedom as South Africans. We got it in 1994 and we had floods and floods of refugees or undocumented people in the country, and we always want to play as if no there’s nothing like that.”
She said that apart from refugees, there were also “wrong people” who entered the country, such as the “Rwanda war criminal person… and they are all here”.
“What are we saying about them? We let all these war criminals come to the country. When we are supposed to tell them to go back, we are told that we’re violating human rights laws and all that.”
Maunye added that it was important “that we become cool-headed and sober and decide how to deal with this”.
Maunye tried to backtrack on her comments after a rebuke from the DA.
DA MP Annette Lovemore distanced herself and her party from the tirade, saying such statements were a foundation for xenophobic attacks on foreigners.
Raising a point of order, Lovemore said she was very disturbed by Maunye’s remarks and by associating “ourselves (committee members) with what you are saying”.
“That’s exactly the kind of attitude… that is causing the new wave of xenophobic attacks that is happening right now and (that) NGOs are warning is going to escalate…
“We cannot as a portfolio committee be saying that we don’t want people from outside South African borders here.”
Attempting an about-turn, Maunye said: “I am saying since 1994 we have had an influx of people coming to the country. I said documented and undocumented people, and also that it impacts on our economy.”
She referred to documents dating back to 2008 that detailed how much the country, including banks and insurance companies, were losing through corruption because of fraudulent ID documents.
“I am not saying people must not come to the country,” Maunye said.
“People must come to the country with proper documents.”
– The Star
Maunye made the remarks on Wednesday at the conclusion of a briefing of her committee by Home Affairs officials. The delegation included deputy home affairs minister Fatima Chohan, and had dealt with the issue of refugee reception centres.
Maunye suggested South Africa should turn away foreigners, as Spain had chosen to do, and questioned human rights laws and the constitution, which she said were used as an excuse to accommodate foreigners.
“Really, this intake, for how long are we going to continue with this as South Africans?” Maunye asked. “Is it not going to affect our resources, the economy of the country?”
She continued: “I think that as the portfolio committee, we need to sit down and discuss this openly; on how long are we going to continue with the intake without the support of other countries.
“You know, we see on TV Spain turning refugees back to their countries, and here you will be told of human rights laws; you know the constitution is against that and all sorts of excuses, and here we have people who are living in poverty daily, people who are unemployed.
“We’ve never enjoyed our freedom as South Africans. We got it in 1994 and we had floods and floods of refugees or undocumented people in the country, and we always want to play as if no there’s nothing like that.”
She said that apart from refugees, there were also “wrong people” who entered the country, such as the “Rwanda war criminal person… and they are all here”.
“What are we saying about them? We let all these war criminals come to the country. When we are supposed to tell them to go back, we are told that we’re violating human rights laws and all that.”
Maunye added that it was important “that we become cool-headed and sober and decide how to deal with this”.
Maunye tried to backtrack on her comments after a rebuke from the DA.
DA MP Annette Lovemore distanced herself and her party from the tirade, saying such statements were a foundation for xenophobic attacks on foreigners.
Raising a point of order, Lovemore said she was very disturbed by Maunye’s remarks and by associating “ourselves (committee members) with what you are saying”.
“That’s exactly the kind of attitude… that is causing the new wave of xenophobic attacks that is happening right now and (that) NGOs are warning is going to escalate…
“We cannot as a portfolio committee be saying that we don’t want people from outside South African borders here.”
Attempting an about-turn, Maunye said: “I am saying since 1994 we have had an influx of people coming to the country. I said documented and undocumented people, and also that it impacts on our economy.”
She referred to documents dating back to 2008 that detailed how much the country, including banks and insurance companies, were losing through corruption because of fraudulent ID documents.
“I am not saying people must not come to the country,” Maunye said.
“People must come to the country with proper documents.”
– The Star
Permits issued to more than 130 000 Zim migrants
A total of 133 331 permits have been issued to Zimbabweans enabling them to legally remain in the country, the home affairs department said on Thursday.
However, not all the applicants had collected their permits, head of the Zimbabwe Document Project, Jacob Mamabolo, said at a briefing on the status of the amnesty project in Pretoria.
"The figure includes those who applied for amnesty...Issuing does not mean they are collected."
Mamabolo said that despite SMS' being sent to those people who had not yet collected their documents, some still remained at the department.
Other Zimbabweans still needed to submit further documentation and to have their fingerprints taken.
"The department continues to do everything in its power to ensure it meets its obligation to document Zimbabweans living in South Africa.
"However, we can only succeed with the full support of all applicants," he said.
The December 31, 2010 deadline saw 275 762 Zimbabwean nationals registering to legalise their residency in the country.
Mamabolo said his department had adjudicated 263 141 applications. A total of 12 621 were still outstanding.
He said the department would meet the July deadline to conclude the documentation process, after which they would focus on other nationalities.
"We continue to interact with the Zimbabwean embassy and consulate to ensure the fast tracking of the issuance of the necessary travel documents to those who applied for them."
However, not all the applicants had collected their permits, head of the Zimbabwe Document Project, Jacob Mamabolo, said at a briefing on the status of the amnesty project in Pretoria.
"The figure includes those who applied for amnesty...Issuing does not mean they are collected."
Mamabolo said that despite SMS' being sent to those people who had not yet collected their documents, some still remained at the department.
Other Zimbabweans still needed to submit further documentation and to have their fingerprints taken.
"The department continues to do everything in its power to ensure it meets its obligation to document Zimbabweans living in South Africa.
"However, we can only succeed with the full support of all applicants," he said.
The December 31, 2010 deadline saw 275 762 Zimbabwean nationals registering to legalise their residency in the country.
Mamabolo said his department had adjudicated 263 141 applications. A total of 12 621 were still outstanding.
He said the department would meet the July deadline to conclude the documentation process, after which they would focus on other nationalities.
"We continue to interact with the Zimbabwean embassy and consulate to ensure the fast tracking of the issuance of the necessary travel documents to those who applied for them."
- Sapa
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Government in denial about xenophobia: report
The government is in denial about xenophobia, says an independent peer review report released on Tuesday.
“The evaluating group felt that the South African government is not doing enough to address the issue of xenophobia and pointed out that there is even an element of denialism on behalf of some officials,” says the report, titled, “Implementing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Views from Civil Society”.
It was released by the APRM Monitoring Project (AMP) to the Pan African Parliament on Tuesday.
The AMP is run jointly by the SA Institute of International Affairs, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Africa Governance, Monitoring and Advocacy Project.
South Africa's last peer review report, called the South African Implementation Report II (SAIR II), in January 2011, did not pay enough attention to xenophobia, says the document released on Tuesday.
“It is noteworthy that SAIR II devotes a whole section to xenophobia, which introduces further responses from government to xenophobia and acknowledges the role of civil society in taking a lead on the issue.
“However, it is poorly written with inadvertent repetition and was clearly assembled in a hurry.”
A wave of violence against foreigners swept through South Africa in May 2008, leaving at least 67 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.
Since then, several reports of pockets of violence against foreigners in different parts of the country have surfaced in the media.
The report gives South Africa's dealing with xenophobia a red rating, which means “no progress has been achieved on addressing the issue; or very little progress has been achieved and the government does not seem to be on track to complete it in the near future”.
On racism, South Africa receives an orange rating Ä slightly better than red.
“The evaluating group noted with concern some of the rhetoric from politicians seemingly aimed at increasing racial divisions that preceded the 18 May 2011 municipal elections.
“However, given the country’s past, the group also noted that apart from isolated incidences of racism, South Africa needs to be given credit for the way the society has moved on. Nevertheless, although much progress has been achieved, many issues remain, hence an orange rating,” says the report.
African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema called white people criminals and accused them of stealing land shortly before the municipal elections.
- Sapa
“The evaluating group felt that the South African government is not doing enough to address the issue of xenophobia and pointed out that there is even an element of denialism on behalf of some officials,” says the report, titled, “Implementing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Views from Civil Society”.
It was released by the APRM Monitoring Project (AMP) to the Pan African Parliament on Tuesday.
The AMP is run jointly by the SA Institute of International Affairs, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Africa Governance, Monitoring and Advocacy Project.
South Africa's last peer review report, called the South African Implementation Report II (SAIR II), in January 2011, did not pay enough attention to xenophobia, says the document released on Tuesday.
“It is noteworthy that SAIR II devotes a whole section to xenophobia, which introduces further responses from government to xenophobia and acknowledges the role of civil society in taking a lead on the issue.
“However, it is poorly written with inadvertent repetition and was clearly assembled in a hurry.”
A wave of violence against foreigners swept through South Africa in May 2008, leaving at least 67 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.
Since then, several reports of pockets of violence against foreigners in different parts of the country have surfaced in the media.
The report gives South Africa's dealing with xenophobia a red rating, which means “no progress has been achieved on addressing the issue; or very little progress has been achieved and the government does not seem to be on track to complete it in the near future”.
On racism, South Africa receives an orange rating Ä slightly better than red.
“The evaluating group noted with concern some of the rhetoric from politicians seemingly aimed at increasing racial divisions that preceded the 18 May 2011 municipal elections.
“However, given the country’s past, the group also noted that apart from isolated incidences of racism, South Africa needs to be given credit for the way the society has moved on. Nevertheless, although much progress has been achieved, many issues remain, hence an orange rating,” says the report.
African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema called white people criminals and accused them of stealing land shortly before the municipal elections.
- Sapa
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Xenophobia flames up in Limpopo
Thousands of Zimbabweans living in a township outside Polokwane, Limpopo, fled last week following the most serious wave of xenophobic violence to hit South Africa in recent months.
The purge included the killing of Zimbabwean Godfrey Sibanda, who was cornered by a mob and stoned to death on Monday night in Extension 75 of Seshoga township, northwest of Polokwane, while walking home from work.
Six RDP houses in Extension 71 which had been rented to Zimbabweans were also torched by large mobs.
More than 3 000 other Zimbabweans fled to hide in nearby bushes.
Sibanda was accused of raping a five-year-old girl and for being behind other criminal acts in the area, which included the murder of a couple last week and robbing a security guard.
The police said they had heard of the incidents, but had no record of these alleged crimes being reported to them.
The day after Sibanda was killed, more Zimbabweans were attacked and evicted from their homes by locals who dumped their blankets, bags and other belongings on the street.
Those who escaped unharmed were being sheltered at the Seshego police station with their families. They said that more than 3 000 of their fellow countrymen were displaced.
They were scared to go to the police because they thought the police were working with the community, said Christopher Manyanhaire, 27.
He was evicted from his home with his sister, three-year-old nephew and brother-in-law.
He said that the mob caught his sister, Locadia, after she tried to escape through the window.
"They were at the door trying to kick it down but I was holding it while my sister tried to escape, but they caught her and beat her until the police arrived,” he said.
Manyanhaire, whose family was among those at Seshego police station, said locals had complained about Zimbabweans getting state houses cheaply from owners who rented them out.
“They have no right to be living in an RDP house because it’s for us South Africans,” said Paulina Makokwane, a South African whose house is surrounded by three Zimbabwean-occupied houses that were torched on Tuesday.
House-to-house search
On Tuesday evening, City Press witnessed a group of close to 200 people going from house-to-house looking for Zimbabweans.
Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said one person was arrested for arson and they were still investigating the murder case.
Fungai Chingorivo, who was part of the evicted group at the police station, said she and her husband had lost everything they had worked for since coming to South Africa in 2008.
“We don’t know what to do now. We have no money and going back home to Zimbabwe empty-handed is pointless because our children and families are suffering,” she said.
By Thursday morning, there were 20 displaced families at the police station with some of their belongings which they had managed to save.
More were expected to arrive and the police have called in local disaster-management officials to help with shelter.
ANC Limpopo spokesperson David Masondo said the party was “disappointed” at what had happened and that it was symptomatic of economic stress in both Limpopo and Zimbabwe. (from IOL)
The purge included the killing of Zimbabwean Godfrey Sibanda, who was cornered by a mob and stoned to death on Monday night in Extension 75 of Seshoga township, northwest of Polokwane, while walking home from work.
Six RDP houses in Extension 71 which had been rented to Zimbabweans were also torched by large mobs.
More than 3 000 other Zimbabweans fled to hide in nearby bushes.
Sibanda was accused of raping a five-year-old girl and for being behind other criminal acts in the area, which included the murder of a couple last week and robbing a security guard.
The police said they had heard of the incidents, but had no record of these alleged crimes being reported to them.
The day after Sibanda was killed, more Zimbabweans were attacked and evicted from their homes by locals who dumped their blankets, bags and other belongings on the street.
Those who escaped unharmed were being sheltered at the Seshego police station with their families. They said that more than 3 000 of their fellow countrymen were displaced.
They were scared to go to the police because they thought the police were working with the community, said Christopher Manyanhaire, 27.
He was evicted from his home with his sister, three-year-old nephew and brother-in-law.
He said that the mob caught his sister, Locadia, after she tried to escape through the window.
"They were at the door trying to kick it down but I was holding it while my sister tried to escape, but they caught her and beat her until the police arrived,” he said.
Manyanhaire, whose family was among those at Seshego police station, said locals had complained about Zimbabweans getting state houses cheaply from owners who rented them out.
“They have no right to be living in an RDP house because it’s for us South Africans,” said Paulina Makokwane, a South African whose house is surrounded by three Zimbabwean-occupied houses that were torched on Tuesday.
House-to-house search
On Tuesday evening, City Press witnessed a group of close to 200 people going from house-to-house looking for Zimbabweans.
Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said one person was arrested for arson and they were still investigating the murder case.
Fungai Chingorivo, who was part of the evicted group at the police station, said she and her husband had lost everything they had worked for since coming to South Africa in 2008.
“We don’t know what to do now. We have no money and going back home to Zimbabwe empty-handed is pointless because our children and families are suffering,” she said.
By Thursday morning, there were 20 displaced families at the police station with some of their belongings which they had managed to save.
More were expected to arrive and the police have called in local disaster-management officials to help with shelter.
ANC Limpopo spokesperson David Masondo said the party was “disappointed” at what had happened and that it was symptomatic of economic stress in both Limpopo and Zimbabwe. (from IOL)
Saturday, January 8, 2011
1.3 million Zimakwerekwere to be evicted from SA
South Africa is preparing to forcibly deport the up to 1.3 million Zimbabweans that did not apply to regularise their stay before the 31 December deadline. Preparations are already made for the mass exodus.
According to the South African Ministry of Home Affairs, more than 275,000 Zimbabwean nationals living illegally in the country had applied to regularise their stay in South Africa within the deadline.
The Ministry's Director-General, Mkuseli Apleni, said that all the applications would be treated by March this year. Mr Apleni indicated the number of applications was greater than expected. "No one would be deported until the all the applications had been processed," the Ministry informed yesterday.
However, there are an estimated 1.5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, many of whom migrated as a result of the social and economic unrest in Zimbabwe in recent years. Most did not qualify for a South African residence application because they are unemployed or only have part-time jobs.
Up to 1.3 million of these Zimbabweans are therefore now risking deportation. The Ministry of Home Affairs has confirmed that Zimbabweans hereafter deemed as illegal immigrants will be arrested and deported to Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans in South Africa and outside claim that many were not given a fair chance to apply as the Zimbabwe government was not cooperative in providing Zimbabwean passports. Passports were needed to present an application for South African residence.
South African human rights activists further criticise the process, fearing that the planned arrests and mass deportations will further push exiled Zimbabweans underground, exposing the further to poverty and crime. Many, employed in the informal sector and therefore not qualified to apply, would therefore lose their livelihood.
In South Africa, where the unemployment rate is now over 25 percent, the forced eviction of illegal immigrants is however widely welcomed by the population.
Meanwhile, plans are made on both sides of the border for the announced forced exodus. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) today announced it has "begun to implement a contingency plan to provide humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwean migrants" who will probably forcibly returned from South Africa in a few months.
"IOM, together with humanitarian partners and the Zimbabwean and South African governments will provide humanitarian and protection assistance to vulnerable returnees, including unaccompanied minors," the organisation said today.
Under the plan, two major reception and support centres at Zimbabwe's borders with South Africa and Botswana are already being equipped with large quantities of non-food items including tents and blankets.
The two locations - Beitbridge and Plumtree - are principal points for cross border traffic for Zimbabwean migrants and opened for forcibly returned migrants already in 2006 and 2008. The two centres have already assisted some 437,000 Zimbabweans returnees, but never received such a great wave that may be expected later this year.
From the two reception and support centres, the expected 1.3 million Zimbabwean returnees are to be reintegrated into society. For this, plans are vaguer, and normal Zimbabwe government and international community development schemes somehow must find shelter and employment opportunities for the returnees.
But Zimbabwe has yet to recover from its political and economic meltdown. Zimbabweans in South Africa know there is currently little hope for their future in Zimbabwe. Many will seek to go underground in South Africa rather than being sent home.
- Afrol News
According to the South African Ministry of Home Affairs, more than 275,000 Zimbabwean nationals living illegally in the country had applied to regularise their stay in South Africa within the deadline.
The Ministry's Director-General, Mkuseli Apleni, said that all the applications would be treated by March this year. Mr Apleni indicated the number of applications was greater than expected. "No one would be deported until the all the applications had been processed," the Ministry informed yesterday.
However, there are an estimated 1.5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, many of whom migrated as a result of the social and economic unrest in Zimbabwe in recent years. Most did not qualify for a South African residence application because they are unemployed or only have part-time jobs.
Up to 1.3 million of these Zimbabweans are therefore now risking deportation. The Ministry of Home Affairs has confirmed that Zimbabweans hereafter deemed as illegal immigrants will be arrested and deported to Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans in South Africa and outside claim that many were not given a fair chance to apply as the Zimbabwe government was not cooperative in providing Zimbabwean passports. Passports were needed to present an application for South African residence.
South African human rights activists further criticise the process, fearing that the planned arrests and mass deportations will further push exiled Zimbabweans underground, exposing the further to poverty and crime. Many, employed in the informal sector and therefore not qualified to apply, would therefore lose their livelihood.
In South Africa, where the unemployment rate is now over 25 percent, the forced eviction of illegal immigrants is however widely welcomed by the population.
Meanwhile, plans are made on both sides of the border for the announced forced exodus. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) today announced it has "begun to implement a contingency plan to provide humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwean migrants" who will probably forcibly returned from South Africa in a few months.
"IOM, together with humanitarian partners and the Zimbabwean and South African governments will provide humanitarian and protection assistance to vulnerable returnees, including unaccompanied minors," the organisation said today.
Under the plan, two major reception and support centres at Zimbabwe's borders with South Africa and Botswana are already being equipped with large quantities of non-food items including tents and blankets.
The two locations - Beitbridge and Plumtree - are principal points for cross border traffic for Zimbabwean migrants and opened for forcibly returned migrants already in 2006 and 2008. The two centres have already assisted some 437,000 Zimbabweans returnees, but never received such a great wave that may be expected later this year.
From the two reception and support centres, the expected 1.3 million Zimbabwean returnees are to be reintegrated into society. For this, plans are vaguer, and normal Zimbabwe government and international community development schemes somehow must find shelter and employment opportunities for the returnees.
But Zimbabwe has yet to recover from its political and economic meltdown. Zimbabweans in South Africa know there is currently little hope for their future in Zimbabwe. Many will seek to go underground in South Africa rather than being sent home.
- Afrol News
SOUTH AFRICA-ZIMBABWE: No deportations until March
JOHANNESBURG, 7 January 2011 (IRIN) - Undocumented Zimbabwean migrants were given until 31 December 2010 to regularize their stay in South Africa, but this has been extended to 31 March, and problems with issuing passports by the Zimbabwean authorities could delay the process even further."There will be no deportations until the end of March," said Ricky Naidoo, spokesman for the South African Department of Home Affairs.
In September 2010 South Africa announced a moratorium on deporting Zimbabweans and said it would allow migrants until 31 December to regularize their stay by applying for work, business or study permits.
The lull in deportations will give the department time to process more than 275,000 applications for permits received from Zimbabwean migrants. "We are trying our best to complete the adjudication process in the next few weeks," Naidoo said.
The South African government relaxed its requirements as the 31 December deadline approached and now awaits a variety of outstanding documents, including passports, to process the applications.
Zimbabwean migrant rights organizations in South Africa, such as the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF), and People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), expressed their appreciation.
"They [the South African government] even accepted applications with just birth certificates and, in some instances, not even that," said Braam Hanekom of PASSOP.
The two NGOs are helping migrants who have applied for permits to obtain the required documents. The biggest problem was getting a Zimbabwean passport.
 Only about a sixth of the estimated Zimbabwean irregular migrant population applied for legal status |
ZEF's Gabriel Shumba estimated that at least 100,000 applications for South African permits had been submitted without passports.
Naidoo said South Africa had offered to help the Zimbabwean government issue the passports, but refused to comment on whether the offer had been accepted. So far, 42,779 applications had been finalized and approved, 10,166 were awaiting review, and 222,817 were awaiting adjudication.
The Zimbabwean daily newspaper, The Herald, which supports the ruling-ZANU-PF party, on 7 January quoted Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede as saying that they would start issuing passports again on 10 January.
| Read more |
 Bureaucracy could delay deportations |
| Tussle over planned resumption of deportations |
| Deportation of Zimbabweans to begin again |
| Rumours of xenophobia send foreign nationals fleeing |
Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, head of the refugee and migrant programme at Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), a South African organization, told IRIN that the Zimbabwean authorities had been issuing 500 passports a day before they suspended production.
The price of not applying
Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean migrants could face deportation from South Africa, "as only about a sixth of the estimated Zimbabwean irregular migrant population applied for legal status," the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.
"There are an estimated 1.5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, many of whom migrated as a result of the social and economic unrest in Zimbabwe in recent years."
The organization has reception centres for refugees at the Beitbridge border crossing from Zimbabwe to South Africa and in Plumtree, the main border crossing between Zimbabwe and Botswana, and is on standby to provide free transportation to deportees. With support from local and international bodies, IOM has prepositioned non-food items including tents and blankets.
ZEF's Shumba said inadequate publicity about the regularization process and lack of information on the requirements had deterred many Zimbabweans from applying.
Employers had also often been reluctant to provide letters of employment for fear of persecution. "The home affairs [department] assured these employers that there will be no action taken against them a bit too late," Shumba said.
"Most Zimbabwean migrants work part-time, it was difficult for them to establish full-time employment," Hanekom noted.
Nevertheless, Zimbabweans migrants could still apply for asylum, he said. "The application will provide them a temporary asylum seeker’s status until their interview to establish whether they qualify - this can take up to two years."
He noted that asylum applications by Zimbabweans had a dismal record, "95 percent of them get rejected, but it can still get you some time."
In the past 10 years, as hyperinflation, and social and economic problems have rocked Zimbabwe, more and more Zimbabweans have sought refuge in neighbouring South Africa, the most economically advanced country in the region.
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