SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa, straining under the influx of economic and political refugees from Zimbabwe
- 00:00:47
- ITN Source
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa, straining under the influx of economic and political refugees from Zimbabwe
Marabastad, in the Pretoria city centre is where the office of the Home Affairs department is situated, and it's also home to hundreds of undocumented migrants who are queuing for weeks and some even months outside the building in the hope of obtaining some form of legal status in South Africa. It is the only Refugee Reception Centre in South Africa currently issuing asylum permit papers and refugee status to refugees and asylum seekers. The other offices in the country only renew permits. The centralization of issuing papers by the SA government has created dreadful hardship for immigrants especially for Zimbabweans who the government says they do not qualify for a refugees status, because they are "economic migrants" Twenty one year old, Joseph Moyo, says he has been sleeping outside the office for four months, without getting the right papers he need to be legal in South Africa. " I used to sleep outside there, it's our shelter, our bedroom and our kitchen one time'', he says Crispin Mutamba , also a Zimbabwean says life has been difficult ever since he came to South Africa, and has has resorted to eating food from the rubbish bins. But the Home Affairs department tells a different story. ''A lot of people who are having permits, who are sleeping outside Marabastad office as well, is not say they are people who don't have papers, because I mean the challenge is people will be saying we can't access Home Affairs office, therefore that's why we are sleeping outside, but then, some of them or most of them are having permits, but it's easier for them now to have a place to stay or accommodation" says the Home Affairs director of Refugees, Busi Mkhwebane-Tshethla. Earlier this year, President Thabo Mbeki said that South Africans should learn to live with the influx of Zimbabweans in the country. But according to the a recent report by the Pretoria-based Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) on the plight of refugees at Marabastad, Zimbabwean are being subjected to rape, robbery and muggings by local gangs, and exploitation by police and Home Affairs officials. The report claims that corrupt officers demand bribes that costs between R300 (US$41) to R1,500 ($205) to obtain immigration papers and to avoid arrests and deportation. The Home Affairs department says it has committed itself to eradicating corruption among its officials and to clearing the backlog that was caused by the recent public sector strike. In the meantime police will continue to arrest illegal immigrants who they say are also involved in criminal activities. Those that are arrested are kept here at the Lindela Repatriation Centre for 90 days, while they wait for the department to establish their country of origin. While at the centre they receive three meals a day and receive medical attention while awaiting deportation. The department says nearly thousand people are deported every week, many of them Zimbabweans.
ITN Source | August 24, 2007
