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

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

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

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

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)

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