Migration News - December 1998

December 1998

• Andrew Selsky of AP (Johannesburg 22/12) reports that when Dr. Kryszt of Zapolski finished his rounds, he went into an operating room, put a cloth soaked in anesthetic over his face and a plastic bag over his head. Workers found his body the next day. Some of Zapolski's colleagues believe he committed suicide because of difficulties with the government over his work permit. His wife Tracey insists he accidentally overdosed while taking an anesthetic to relax from work pressures. Whatever the circumstances, the Dec. 8 death of the Polish doctor has highlighted the plight of foreign physicians in South Africa. Like hundreds of other foreign doctors, Zapolski had to renew his work permit every few months. In the days preceding his death, he complained to colleagues that the Home Affairs office said he had given insufficient reason why his permit should be renewed, according to Dr. Safdar Malick, a Pakistani who chairs the Foreign Qualified Doctors Association. "Chris' death was an expression of helplessness and frustration, a feeling shared by many doctors," said Malick, whose organization investigated Zapolski's death. Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital this month is terminating the contracts of 42 foreign doctors and putting interns in their places, said hospital spokeswoman Esther Hlongwane. The same is occurring in other hospitals. Last week, the Sowetan newspaper reported that Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma had told foreign doctors with temporary work permits that they must leave the country by the end of the year.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 21/12) reports that the New National Party said on Monday that "illegal immigrants" returning home for Christmas should not be allowed back into the country. In a statement NNP home affairs spokesman Coetzee Bester said South Africa was faced with an increasing number of "illegal immigrants" taking up scarce resources. "This in turn has resulted in xenophobia. The hate of foreigners resulted in an attack on a train in October this year where three were killed." Bester said "illegal immigrants" who went home for Christmas should not be allowed back into South Africa as they still had family ties in their countries of origin. "This may prove to be a good starting point for resolving the "illegal immigrant" situation." There were between 2,5 million and 4,1 million "illegal immigrants" in South Africa, according to a Human Sciences Research Council study. The real figure could be as high as 8,5 million, costing the taxpayer at least R2,7 billion a year, Bester said.

• AP (Nairobi 21/12) reports that police have detained at least 1,000 suspected "illegal aliens" since a countrywide crackdown began in November, a police spokesman said today. King'ori Mwangi said, "We are rounding up all aliens without proper documents to be in the country." Since 1994 between 40,000 and 50,000 unskilled or semi-skilled workers from the Indian region of Gujarat and from Pakistan have made their way to Nairobi and several towns in central Kenya, according to the independent Daily Nation newspaper. The paper said immigration records indicate fewer than 1,000 work permits are issued every year, yet dozens of Indians and Pakistanis appear to be entering the job market every day, the paper said. The newspaper said criminal syndicates lure would-be immigrants with promises of good jobs, even though unemployment in Kenya is estimated to be as high as 50 percent of the working age population. Mwangi said the crackdown will go on until all "illegal aliens" are netted. "If they are refugees, they should remain in the camps. If they want to work here, there is a process, not just sneaking in," he said. He said most of the "illegal aliens" have been taken to court. If they are convicted of being in the country illegally, they are deported after serving their prison sentences. "Some of these aliens are known to be drug runners," Mwangi said, "We cannot compromise our security."

• SAPA (Gaborone 18/12) reports that there are now 1,441 Namibians in Botswana who claim they have fled persecution by the Namibian government, the Botswana government said on Friday. "The inflow has slowed, but they are still coming," said presidential office spokesman Andrew Sesinyi. "They are all asking for asylum." The United Nations High Commission for refugees is advising the Botswana government in determining the status of the Namibians. In mid-November, the UNHCR found it was plausible they would face persecution if they went back, but Botswana is hoping some will eventually opt for voluntary repatriation. "Once whatever situation they were fleeing from has been resolved, we hope they will reflect on their situation and decide to go back," Sesinyi said. The final decision to grant asylum or not will depend largely on the recommendations of the Botswana Refugee Advisory Committee, which is interviewing the Namibians individually. The committee is comprised of representatives of the UNHCR and the Botswana Government. Botswana is sticking to the UNHCR convention on asylum seekers, to which both it and Namibia are signatories. "The onus to decide to return is on the asylum seeker, they are given the benefit of the doubt, we cannot force any of them to return to Namibia," Sesinyi said.

• SAPA-AP (Washington 18/12) reports that Iraq, Central Africa and Colombia are expected to be among the 10 most serious areas of conflict and political instability the world will face in 1999, a humanitarian organization said Friday. World Vision also cited Angola, Sudan, North Korea, Indonesia, the Balkans, Ethiopia/Eritrea and India/Pakistan in its listing of 10 "global hot spot." "Regrettably, we tend to view the future as projections of the past," said Dayton Maxwell, a senior policy advisor for World Vision, a relief and development organization serving 60 million people in nearly 100 countries. Humanitarian organizations are carefully evaluating the impact of the air and missile strikes against Iraq, said Maxwell. Maxwell also noted that more "interstate conflicts" are emerging. In Central Africa, for example, internal stability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is compounded by the involvement of surrounding nations, such as Angola, Rwanda and Uganda.

• The Mail and Guardian (Johannesburg 18/12) reports that a band of robbers and killers is terrorizing African immigrants in Johannesburg in what appears to be a systematic elimination of the foreign nationals. The latest casualty was Djo Ongonga Okamba from Brazzaville, the capital of Congo, who was shot dead last week. Two other murders of French-speaking Africans in the past few months have been confirmed, but members of the French-speaking community talk of at least six more killings of immigrants from Senegal, Cameroon and Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Okamba's murder has prompted the Congolese embassy to write a letter of concern to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After being flooded with pleas for protection by Congolese nationals, the embassy took up the matter with the police in Yeoville. A witness to Okamba's murder said he was gunned down by a man known as "Coloured." The witness and friends of Okamba said Coloured has shot dead two other immigrants. Okamba's friends and other foreigners complain police fail to act against Coloured and other killers. The violence against the foreigners is often carried out with impunity as authorities ignore complaints from outsiders. Okamba is one of the latest victims of the antagonistic South African attitude towards Africans from other countries on the continent. When police arrived at the scene the witness said he told them who the suspect was and where to find him. Johannesburg police representative Mark Reynolds said the witness to Okamba's shooting is too scared to come forward and identify the killer for police. The witness told the Mail & Guardian he is afraid the police might "betray" him and reveal his identity to Coloured. He denied that police have been informed about the identity of the suspect. Reynolds could not say whether the motive for the killings is xenophobia. "Unfortunately these things surface from time to time," he said.

• SAPA (Pretoria 11/12) reports that the SA National Defence Force arrested 35,383 "illegal immigrants" and 4658 crime suspects so far this year, a statement on Friday said. The SA Air Force flew a total of 2840 hours in support of anti-crime operations and 1909 hours for border control.

• The African Press (Khartoum, Sudan 10/12) reports that Africa must face up to the problem of its 8 million refugees and bear the responsibility for finding solutions for their problems, the Organization of African Unity said. Opening an African conference on refugees, the assistant secretary-general of the OAU, Daniel Antonio, said both host nations and donor countries were experiencing "fatigue." "Africa has to come up with a new strategy for the welfare of all Africans," he said. "This is a big challenge, but it is a noble challenge." The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says the approximately 8 million refugees in Africa represent a 500 percent increase over 1993. Another 15 million people have been displaced by war and famine. More than 1.5 million people have died in the fighting and subsequent famines.

• SAPA-DPA (Kkartoum 10/12) reports that African experts on refugee affairs began a six-day conference in Khartoum Thursday with the Sudanese external relations minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, calling on the international community to shoulder its full responsibility toward refugees. The minister said Sudan, which houses about one million refugees - the most in Africa - would continue taking care of refugees despite economic burdens the country is facing. While urging the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to commit itself to the protection of refugees, the Sudanese minister warned the UNHCR not to interfere in internal affairs of the host countries or countries of origin. The assistant secretary general of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Antonio Daniel, told delegates that since its inception, the OAU has paid much attention to the problems of refugees. The chairman of the OAU Refugee Commission, Osman al-Sayed, explained that when the OAU set up a convention on refugees in 1964, many believed refuge taking would be a passing phenomenon since wars of liberation from colonial powers were coming to an end. "But our perception was deceived," said al-Sayed, noting that the number of refugees has increased due to armed conflicts and violation of human rights on the continent.

• SAPA (Maputo 10/12) reports that Mozambican parliamentarians on Thursday during a special Human Rights Day debate pushed for a declaration damning South Africa's treatment of "illegal immigrants". Speakers from both major political parties in parliament branded the summary deportation, treatment of "illegal immigrants" and recent kidnapping of 17 Mozambican women as atrocities against humanity, African Eye News Service reported. The unnamed women were allegedly lured to Johannesburg with promises of work before being held as sex-slaves in a number of flats in Hillbrow, Johannesburg for four months. Frelimo parliamentarian Lina Magaia said the incident demonstrated the disrespect most South Africans displayed towards Mozambicans. Magaia said Mozambicans were shocked at a television footage broadcast that showed deportees with bruises and other signs of abuse, prompting Maputo media to call South Africa's deportation policy a "human tragedy". One deportee, Daniel Massinga, 20, of the most recent batch of 600 "illegal immigrants" delivered to the border town of Ressano Garcia told reporters shortly after he was processed through the border: "(South African President Nelson) Mandela and (Mozambican President Joachim) Chissano must find a way so that we can work legally in South Africa. Even when we get arrested, we are repatriated without our belongings, so we simply jump the border and go back to South Africa within two or three days." Deportees were often held in police cells for unreasonably long periods of time, said Massinga. "Police keep us in jail until there are enough people to fill six railway coaches. If anyone complains or protests, we get beaten. We are also locked up for long periods with only the minimum health and other services," he said. Many of the injured had to be admitted to a clinic in Ressano Garcia for treatment before they could travel to Maputo. Ressano Garcia nurse Mauricio Sambo said between 10 and 20 deportees usually needed immediate medical assistance as a result of beatings or other injuries sustained during the repatriation process.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 09/12) reports that tackling xenophobia would prove to be an enormous task requiring the combined efforts of all sectors of society, SA Human Rights Commission chairman Barney Pityana said. Pityana said the fact that over 30 foreign immigrants had been murdered in South Africa over the past two years was cause for serious concern. It was a pity, he said, that it took the brutal killings of three foreign Africans on a train near Pretoria to make the public aware of the problem. "We have to send a strong message of tolerance to people about the country we live in. No-one, whether in this country legally or not, can be deprived of his or her basic rights." Pityana said the mere fact of being without legal status did not mean that such a person should be subjected to exploitation, violence or criminal treatment. "Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi in particular promised the HRC that he would support our initiatives. We will be approaching him soon for concrete proof of his support." "We cannot foster a culture of human rights in South Africa when our treatment of those who happen to be different to us is unforgiving, uncaring and sometimes even brutal with deadly consequences," Pityana said.

• Inter Press Service (Nairobi 07/12) reports a threat by a top government official to deport all foreign prostitutes living with AIDS from Kenya has come under fire from rights groups and church leaders in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The Nairobi Provincial Commissioner, Joseph Kaguthi, said he had instructed the immigration department to expel the women from Nairobi's bustling Majengo slums. Following Kaguthi's remarks, Nairobi police mounted a massive sweep over the weekend that netted "hundreds of illegal immigrants" in the city. The foreigners, whose nationalities have not been disclosed, have recounted harrowing tales of rape, harassment, extortion and theft from the police who carried out the initiative. Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki criticized the police action as a violation of the aliens' civil rights. "The police should practice restraint in their operation, which was an infringement of foreigners' rights. Not every foreigner is illegally in the country," he said. Protests have been coming from all sectors of Kenyan society. "This is very shameful for a person in his (Kaguthi's) position to make such callous utterances. It's totally unacceptable and insensitive to people living with AIDS. One cannot confine the disease to a geographical area" said Dr. Charles Maringo of the Kenya Medical Association (KMA). Dr. Elizabeth Ngugi, chairperson of the Society For Women and AIDS in Kenya (SWAK), said Kaguthi's remarks should be rejected by Kenyan women. "It takes two to spread the infection, regardless of race, religion, culture or social economic status, regardless of their origin," said Ngugi.

• Times of Zambia (Lusaka 07/12) reports that the government has targeted "illegal immigrants" and refugees as being among the causes of the high crime wave in Zambia. Information and Broadcasting Minister Newstead Zimba said yesterday that from now on, the issuance of national registration cards (NRCs) would be tightened and closer liaison with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would be instituted to ensure refugees were kept in designated areas. Government would also tighten the screening of immigrants to determine those that have entered Zambia illegally to identify and deport them immediately. Police officers would also be deployed in areas with high crime rates to curb the scourge. "Comprehensive measures have been put in place to reduce crime in the country. Criminal elements are being identified and would be brought to book while loopholes through which crime is perpetrated are being sealed," he said.

• The Zimbabwe Standard (Harare 06/12) reports that a Nigerian whose application for political asylum in Zimbabwe was turned down by the ministry of public service, labour and social welfare on the basis that "all Nigerians are crooks", recently had the High Court rule in his favour. Passing judgment, the High Court said that the reasons given by the responsible ministry for denying him refugee status were "grossly unreasonable" and it appeared that the relevant office had looked at his application with bias. In his founding affidavit, Sylvester Asame-kaku Egwu, who is a chartered engineer, said that he successfully applied for a visitor's visa to Zimbabwe from Lagos in September 1997. He said that he had not stated his real reason for coming to Zimbabwe in the first instance because he was afraid he would be turned away at the airport.

• The Nation (Nairobi 06/12) reports harrowing tales of rape, extortion and plunder following a police operation that netted hundreds of foreigners in Nairobi on Friday night. In a major overnight crackdown on "illegal immigrants", 542 aliens were arrested. Some residents told harrowing tales of rape, looting and harassment during the operation. The Nairobi Provincial Police Officer, Mr. Isaac Muthuri, dismissed the allegations, saying that no complaints of indiscipline against the officers had been reported to him. Residents said the police flushed women from their houses and raped them as men watched helplessly in disbelief. About 20 women were allegedly raped. "The officers did not carry out the operation with any civility. They forced their way into our apartment, banged doors and slapped us demanding that we produce Kenyan identification documents," a resident said. He went on: "After scrutinizing the documents, they dragged women from their houses and raped them as we watched. We tried to protest but we were threatened with arrest." The residents said that policemen extorted money from residents and snatched necklaces and wrist watches. President Moi last week ordered police to crackdown on illegal refugees, saying anyone found without legal documents should be arrested and punished. Mr. Muthuri said police, immigration personnel and representatives from the UNHCR were sorting the suspects to establish who were genuine refugees and "illegal immigrants". "The operation will continue until all illegal immigrants are kicked out of the city. We have many people without passports, visas, travel documents or other documents to show they are in Kenya legally."

• The Mail and Guardian (27/11 - 3/12) reports that a campaign to fight xenophobia and raise awareness about refugees, asylum seekers and migrants is to be launched this month. The campaign is part of a three year strategy drawn up by a consultant commissioned by the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It is being spearheaded by the National Consultative Forum on Refugee Affairs and includes the UNHCR, the Human Rights Commission, the Southern African Migration Project, Lawyers for Human Rights and refugee forums in the provinces. Chair of the Western Cape forum and member of the national forum Bea Abrahams said they were alarmed at the "rising sweep of xenophobia" in the past year, during which about 50 refugees had been killed countrywide. The campaign aims at targeting government departments such as Home Affairs, health, welfare and correctional services as well as influencing policy makers. Workshops, information brochures and media campaign are some of the ways the group hopes to raise public awareness.

• SAPA (Dar es Salaam 02/12) reports that a total of 16,487 refugees from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have fled into Tanzania since early August, UN refugee agency official Anthony Moga said Wednesday. "We are receiving many DRC refugees here daily and more than 2,000 have arrived here in the last two weeks," Moga said. He said that about 1,000 refugees from the DRC had crossed and entered Tanzania's southwestern region of Rukwa since last month and that some UNHCR officials were now in Rukwa assessing the situation on the ground.

• SAPA-AP (Geneva 01/12) reports that fighting in southeastern Congo has led to a new wave of Congolese refugees crossing Lake Tanganyika into Tanzania, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday. Several hundred refugees each day have been arriving in port villages in Tanzania's Rukwa region since mid-November, said Kris Janowski, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The new arrivals say fighting in Congo's Shaba region, as well as looting and the fear of being pressed into military service, are behind the exodus, Janowski said. Around 50 refugees a day were arriving in the second week of November. But over the following week, some 2,500 crossed into Tanzania. No adequate shelter is available in the lakeside villages for the refugees and their situation is being made worse by increasingly heavy rain. UNHCR has transferred 1,200 refugees north from their arrival points to Kigoma, where camps are already established. More than 18,000 people have fled Congo for Tanzania during the four-month conflict between forces loyal to President Laurent Kabila and rebels based in Congo's eastern regions, the agency says.

• Xinhua (Lagos 01/12) reports that Nigeria's borders with neighboring countries will be closed on the coming Friday and Saturday to prevent illegal immigrants from coming into Nigeria to vote during the December 5 local government elections. In a statement issued in capital Abuja Monday, Minister of Internal Affairs Musa Yakubu urged security agents, especially immigration and customs officers, to ensure that the country's borders are well policed, the Nigerian Tribune reported Tuesday. Two weeks ago, Justice Ephraim Akpata, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, requested the government should close the country's borders during the local government elections to check the activities of fraudsters. He noted that fraudulent politicians who had purchased voters registration cards might want to bring in illegal immigrants for the Saturday elections.

Updated June 08, 1999