Migration News - January 1998

January 1998

• SAPA (Harare 30/01) Over 75,000 Zimbabweans are living in South Africa "illegally" following the expiry of their residence permits in 1997, the Ziana news agency reported on Friday. This number excluded Zimbabweans who entered South Africa "illegally", said South African High Commission spokeswoman Karen Koch in Harare. She said 214966 visas were granted to Zimbabweans last year, 97314 less than the previous year. "The South African government deported or repatriated 21673 Zimbabweans during 1997," said Koch. This was 7012 more than in 1996. The commission refused 11156 visas in 1996 and 5212 during1997, because applicants failed the entry criteria. She said they did not have enough funds to cover their accommodation and subsistence costs while in South Africa, they did not have family ties in Zimbabwe to return to, and some made false statements on applications. Applicants who had previously overstayed were also not granted a visa. Koch said this was in line with international practice and was not targeted at Zimbabwean citizens.

• SAPA (Pretoria 27/01) reports that sixty-nine Cuban doctors will arrive in South Africa on Wednesday to help relieve the shortage of doctors in the country. The Health Department said on Tuesday the Cubans would be employed in the Eastern Cape, North West, Gauteng and the Free State. On Thursday, 42 South African students leave for Cuba to study medicine on a 6-year contract with the Cuban government. They were selected from rural areas and will work in their respective provinces for six years after completing their studies.

• SAPA (Geneva 27/01) reports that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, is to begin a 20-day tour of Africa's Great Lakes region next week to study the refugee problem in the area, a UN spokesman announced Tuesday. The focus of her tour which begins on February 5 will be the refugee crisis in the Great Lakes region, sparked by the civil strife in Rwanda and Burundi, and the fall-out from conflict in the former Zaire and Congo. During her tour Ogata will visit Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, and Ethiopia, UN spokesman Kris Janowski said. She will meet officials in each of these countries and with Salim Ahmed Salim, Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity, the pan-African agency that deals with regional issues, Janowski said.

• SAPA (Luanda 23/01) reports that malaria, yellow fever and diarrhea are claiming ten lives a day in the refugee camp of Boa Esperanca, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the Angolan capital Luanda, camp officials said Friday. The camp is home to around to 35,000 refugees displaced from their homes in the northern province of Bengo by Angola's two-decade civil war. According to Soba Ntela, a local chief, the camp has never been equipped with drinking water and the refugees, packed into small huts, have to make do with the muddy waters of the nearby River Dande. Their sparse rations are provided by two Angolan and German non-governmental organizations, which allow each family a monthly handout of eight kilograms (18 pounds) of maize, one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of beans and three liters of vegetable oil. "The maize we get is often spoiled and we can't grow anything on ground that is completely flooded during the rainy season and scorched by the sun in the dry season," said Paulo Mateus Congo, the camp's chief administrator.

• SAPA (Komatipoort 22/01) reports that almost 200,000 people crossed the Lebombo border post between South Africa and Mozambique during the December festive season, border authorities said on Thursday. Officer in charge of port control at Komatipoort in Mpumalanga, Isabel Badenhorst, said this brought the number of people who crossed the border during the whole of 1997 to almost 1,5 million people - an increase of about 300,000 on 1996 numbers. December border crossings included people who planned holidaying or visiting friends and relatives in Mozambique. Badenhorst said 2280 "illegal immigrants" were repatriated last year, compared to 5848 in 1996, while about 15,000 fewer illegal Mozambicans handed themselves in voluntarily for repatriation. "There were fewer illegals returning of their own free will because many were given permanent residence in South Africa last year as part of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) project," she explained.

• SAPA (Lusaka 22/01) reports that a United Nations official Thursday warned refugees in Zambia that they faced rough times in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) if they returned there without the authority of the U.N. and the Zambian government. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Zambia and the DRC are scheduled to sign a tripartite agreement facilitating the repatriation of about 2,000 refugees still in Zambia. The UNHCR representative in Zambia, Oluseyi Bujulaiye, said the DRC administration has requested that refugees be repatriated in a well organized way. Bujulaiye said refugees would face the hard task of explaining where they had been all this time and it was essential that they followed the international procedures on repatriation. An estimated 8,000 refugees fled to Zambia at the peak of last year's seven-month civil war.

• African Eye News Service (21/01) reports that more than 100 Mozambican "illegal immigrants" will be repatriated. Mpumalanga police arrested 84 aliens on a train to Gauteng and another 24 were arrested in the Waterval Boven area. Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson, Superintendent Theo de Bruyn, said on Monday that more than 2,700 "illegal immigrants" from at least four foreign countries were arrested, prosecuted and deported since September last year. He said in a statement that 2,184 of the illegals were Mozambican nationals, 262 were Swazi nationals, 113 came from Lesotho, 46 came from Zimbabwe and 9 from Botswana. He said 124 immigrants from other African countries were also arrested.

• Business Day (20/01) reports that Origi is one of the new generation of Nigerian emigrants who see South Africa as something of an Eldorado and have begun flocking there in search of success. "I hear South Africa is very much like Europe, business is moving there and their currency is strong," this is what one Nigerian said in justification of his decision to take up streets trading in Johannesburg. "I want to work here for two or three years, save some money which I can put back into my business back home or develop some line of business which may take me to and fro". The early destinations of many Nigerians had been Europe and the US, but with the end of apartheid in 1994 and the start of black majority rule, South Africa with the biggest and strongest economy in Africa became another attractive destination.

• SAPA (19/01) reports that more than 2700 undocumented migrants from more than four neighbouring countries were arrested, prosecuted and deported in Mpumalanga in the four months from September to December last year, police said on Monday. Mpumalanaga police spokesman Senior Superintendent Theo du Bruyn said in a statement that of 2738 aliens, the majority, 2184, entered the country from Mozambique, followed by Swaziland, 262, Lesotho, 113, Zimbabwe, 46, Botswana, 9. There were 124 aliens from other countries.

• SAPA (18/01) reports that a white Cape Town woman is seeking political asylum in the United States to escape affirmative action in South Africa, according to a Sunday newspaper. Lyn Rutherford, 32, told a judicial hearing in Washington that she would be disadvantaged by affirmative action if she returned home. If the application is successful, it could set a precedent and open the floodgates for South Africans who wish to emigrate to the US. Rutherford, who has been working for a computer firm in Los Angeles for the past three years, apparently has the sympathetic ear of the judge. He has granted her two hearings so far and has asked her to produce more evidence at her third hearing on Thursday on how she would be disadvantaged as a white person in her own country. Rutherford’s sister, Janet - who lives in Cape Town - has been helping her gather evidence on government insistence that whites must accept that other races be favoured by affirmative action. This includes Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s recent warnings to whites that they must accept change or be forced to accept it, the newspaper said.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 13/01) reports that a racket to assist "illegal aliens" to remain in South Africa apparently went "quite high up" and possibly even to the Department of Home Affairs, the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court heard on Tuesday when three alleged syndicate members appeared. This was placed on record by prosecutor Ms SM Maat when the three appeared on charges of contravening the Aliens Control Act. She said the charges against the third accused, Mr M Kimo, 28, of Yeoville, were more serious and included the forgery of passports. He was added as a co-accused on Monday. The other two, Mr J Markessi, 24, and Ms J Mutezi, 23, also from Yeoville, have been in custody for about six days. The prosecutor applied to the court to prohibit the media from publishing certain statements, but failed to indicate which statements. Magistrate Mr V Pienaar said he would decide on the matter when the bail application was brought on Friday as the prosecution was not ready to proceed. The prosecutor then indicated she would on Friday apply for the bail application to be heard in camera.

• SAPA (Harare 13/01) reports that seven people are feared drowned trying to cross the crocodile-infested Limpopo River from Zimbabwe to South Africa while others who made it to the other side were punished with a whipping, Zimbabwean police reported Tuesday. A spokesman said on Sunday night three Zimbabweans were swept away by the river, which has been swollen by recent rains. On Monday, four Mozambicans were also feared drowned after trying to cross the Limpopo at the same point near the Beitbridge border post. "Illegal immigrants" seeking work in South Africa regularly make it across the river, but police say the gangs which lead them to the crossing points failed to warn them that rains had made the venture more dangerous than usual. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper reported Tuesday that five Zimbabweans were brutally whipped and robbed of their money by white owners of a game park in South Africa near the border. The paper said the Zimbabweans were caught by white men with whips shortly after crossing the border . They told the newspaper they were whipped for three hours and finally forced to lie on their backs while the South Africans marked an X onto their chests. "They said the X should remind us never to cross the border near them again," said one of the victims, Christopher Shengiwa. Zimbabwean police said the men were treated for their injuries in hospital and that South African police were investigating.

• The Argus (12/01) reports that ten percent of senior and experienced staff at the Department of Home Affairs have taken severance packages, throwing the departments operations into chaos. About 873 well experienced staff have left. According to a spokesperson from the Department, the fact that people are leaving is not a problem, the problem is that there is a public service moratorium on hiring new staff: "What this means is that once someone takes a severance package, the post stays vacant".

• SAPA-AFP (Blantyre 09/01) reports that Malawi has deported at least 34 Asians in a crackdown on "illegal immigrants", a senior official said. Martin Mononga, chief immigration officer, said 34 "illegal immigrants" from Indian and Pakistan had been deported and 15 others would be sent back home shortly. The crackdown started on December 22. Asians usually enter the country posing as tourists then secure jobs without permits among the 4,000-strong Asian community. Mononga said 35 Tanzanians, five Somalis, one Burundese and one Kenyan had been deported this week. In all more than 100 "illegal immigrants" have been rounded up since the joint military and police operation began.

• SAPA (Pretoria 09/01) reports that dozens of Pretoria hawkers gathered on Church Square on Friday accusing the city council of harassment and of trying to rob them of their livelihood. The group claimed South African vendors were being replaced by foreigners who bribed city council officials. They said the council last year changed legislation, allowing only 250 of an estimated 1500 hawkers to trade in the city. Also, those with permits were moved to new trading areas, where they have to pay up to R200 rent a month for a spot without shelter from the sun and rain, and far from toilet facilities. Spokeswoman Elmarie Meyer said vendors would no longer be allowed to sit outside shop windows. Those who carried on their trade in Church Street would receive tables and umbrellas. "Illegal informal traders are warned before they are fined or their goods confiscated," she said. The city council, Meyer said, had a good relationship with the hawkers. Problems were usually caused by illegal traders. Chairman of the Pretoria Concerned Hawkers, Jacob Maseka, said they had no other choice but to be hawkers, since there were no job opportunities. "We have seen that hawking is the only way for blacks to survive in South Africa. We want to revive the country's economy and reduce crime," he said. "We are also doing our bit to decrease the stampede of job seekers in the factories." He called on the government to stop "this apartheid system", and to help hawkers become successful business people.

• SAPA (Durban 06/01) reports that police in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Lesotho decided on Tuesday to work together to stop cross-border stocktheft raids. This was resolved on Tuesday at a meeting between the police and officials from the foreign affairs departments of South Africa and Lesotho. The meeting was convened to discuss the cross-border incident on New Year's Day, in which at least seven people were shot and hacked to death. Captain Anton Koorzen of the national investigation task unit in Port Shepstone said cross-border arrangements had been made with the Lesotho police to stop the raids. A team of Lesotho police and the police in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape would investigate the New Year's day massacre, Koorzen said. At least seven people were killed when South African farmers allegedly crossed over into Lesotho via KwaZulu-Natal and allegedly stole goats and sheep. Lesotho residents apparently retaliated and the resulting clash left at least seven people dead.

• The Sowetan (06/01) reports: "The government's unwillingness to act forcefully against illegal immigrants was further encouragement for people from foreign countries to descend on South Africa, where it seemed they could willy-nilly sponge on the assets of the country", National Party home affairs spokesman Frik van Deventer said on Monday. Growing demands by illegal foreigners on financial, health, social and housing assistance - and the success they were achieving, be it through bribery or forged documents - were a serious threat to the legitimate demands of South African citizens, he said in a statement. The viability of promises of better border patrolling with the assistance of the defence force carried as little weight as the ANC's election promises before 1994, he said. "A defence force and a police force which have been so weakened by financial cutbacks that they can hardly fulfil their routine duties cannot be expected to offer security guarantees for the protection of the interests of South African citizens against ruthless poachers of necessary and limited resources and opportunities." The social and economic injustice resulting from the deprivation of job opportunities was almost incalculable, Van Deventer said.

• SAPA (Pretoria 05/01) reports that not all people experienced the presence of "illegal aliens" as a problem, the Human Sciences Research Council said on Monday. "For instance farmers claim that besides offering cheap labour, undocumented immigrants are excellent, reliable workers who are not politically orientated," said Martjie Bosman, HSRC research specialist. She said no reliable methods existed to determine the exact number of "illegal aliens" in the country. There was a perception, however, that the number was increasing. Political instability, environmental and other socio-economic factors had in the past decades intensified the migration process. In recent years, South Africa started being seen as the land of milk and honey, Bosman said. The HSRC was busy researching cross-border migration trends. This was aimed at throwing light on where the "illegal aliens" come from, why they come to South Africa, what they do once in the country, and where they settle. So far, research results indicate that they settle mostly on border farms and informal settlements around mines. They find work mostly in the construction industry, restaurants and the informal trade sector, Bosman said.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 04/01) reports that the Freedom Front on Sunday said it would support all measures taken to combat the problem of "illegal immigrants", following a report released by the Human Sciences Research Council. FF spokesman for home affairs Willem Botha said the party had in the past warned that "illegal immigrants" had a negative effect on the delivery of housing, services and health, job opportunities and crime.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 04/01) reports that the National Party on Sunday called on the government to take steps to curb "illegal immigration", which is costing the South African taxpayer R2,75 billion a year. In a statement the NP, quoting from figures released by the Human Sciences Research Council, said immediate steps should be taken to repatriate "illegal immigrants" and to promote an immigration policy that attracts skills and investment. NP spokesman Daryl Swanepoel said present controls on illegal immigration were ineffective. "The cost cannot be justified given the enormous pressure... to supply our own citizens with basic services," Swanepoel said.

• SAPA (Blantyre 02/01) reports that the Malawi army, which is already trying to rid the country of proliferating illegal weaponry, this week turned the heat on the country's Asians and rounded up 30 found with no permits. News reports Friday said soldiers on New Year's Eve stormed Asian shops in the country's two capitals demanding identification papers and arrested more than 30 for not having identity documents. Those found with no identities were thrown into army trucks and taken to police cells where the remained Friday. Immigration authorities suspect scores of Asians have in recent years entered the country illegally and are employed by British passport-holding Asians resident in Malawi. In addition some 50 Nigerians and Tanzanians were arrested when soldiers raided a market place in the administrative capital, Lilongwe. The search operation, launched on December 22 last year, has netted scores of firearms and much ammunition. The use of the military has been criticized by human rights bodies, which charge that soldiers have been harassing innocent people as part of the operation.

Updated August 21, 1998