Migration News - July 1998

July 1998

• SAPA-AP (29/07) reports that the UNHCR has approval from the Congo to try to help the thousands of Angolans who have recently crossed the border to escape fighting in their homeland. Congolese authorities estimate the total number is 100,000, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Congo hadn't prevented the UNHCR from getting to the refugees, but the UNHCR wanted to get formal approval of the mission considering the security concerns in the area, U.N. officials said. Relations between the Congo and the United Nations have worsened since the U.N. human rights team was withdrawn from the country earlier this year. The team ran into consistent obstacles in trying to investigate massacres of Rwandan Hutu refugees allegedly carried out by troops loyal to President Laurent Kabila during his sweep to power in 1996-97, U.N. officials have said. In neighboring Angola, a recent increase in hostilities between government troops and the former rebel movement UNITA has forced thousands of refugees across the border, including government officials and national police officers who fled with their families, Eckhard said. Fearing the escalating violence could undermine Angola's 1994 U.N.-brokered peace accord, Secretary-General Kofi Annan dispatched an envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, to meet with government and UNITA officials this weekend in Angola.

• Argus (29/07) reports that South African teachers are scrambling for posts overseas, where they are in demand and highly paid. Teacher recruitment agencies say they have been flooded with queries by teachers who want to go overseas as they cannot get work here or have lost their jobs. Schools in Europe, especially Britain, recruit foreigners as temporary substitute, or locum, teachers and since South Africa’s entry to the commonwealth, local teachers qualify. According to Heather Dutton-Brown of Masterlock Recruitment’s education division in South Africa, more than 200 teachers had asked about temporary posts in Britain since December. Only 60 met all the requirements and found posts. Ms Dutton-Brown said consultants representing British teaching agencies had mushroomed in South Africa and were snapping up dismantled teachers to keep up with the demand for classroom staff in Britain. South African teachers were popular because they were hard working and knew how to work with children from different cultures and variety of backgrounds. Teachers are paid 16,000 pounds a year (about R160,000).

• SAPA-AP (Lusaka 28/07) reports that the United Nations says about 2,000 Rwandan refugees have crossed into Zambia from Angola in the last two weeks, fleeing renewed fighting between the Angolan government and former UNITA rebels. Martin Bucumi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees representative in Zambia, said small numbers of Angolans, mostly families with children, have also fled into Zambia. Bucumi said Monday that the Rwandans, who earlier fled their own country traveling through the Democratic Republic of Congo to reach Angola, had come from Luao, a remote settlement in northeastern Angola close to the border with Zambia.

• SAPA-AP (Cape Town 28/07) reports that the fraying of Angola's peace process could result in a disaster for all of southern Africa, South Africa said on Tuesday. Relations between Angola's government and former rebel movement UNITA are reaching a crisis point and observers fear a renewed outbreak of a civil war that ended with 1994 peace accords in the Zambian capital, Lusaka. Last week about 200 people were massacred in the small diamond mining village of Bula, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) east of Luanda, according to reports cited by U.N. officials. Survivors allege the attackers were from UNITA, but the former guerrilla group has denied the accusations. Several thousand refugees have begun trickling into neighboring Zambia, says the United Nations, which is sending an emergency mediator to the country. "This is a disastrous situation," South Africa's deputy foreign minister, Aziz Pahad, told a parliamentary foreign affairs committee. A renewal of conflict could lead to a refugee crisis and the further destruction of what little infrastructure remains, Pahad added. "It will (have an) impact on the whole economic thinking ...of how we develop the region," he said.

• SAPA-AP (20/07) reports the UN refugee body will obtain access to refugees in Democratic Republic of Congo under a protocol signed following the arrival of tens of thousands of Angolans, officials said Wednesday. The agreement will entitle all refugees without distinction to protection under international conventions, an official announcement said Wednesday. According to UN estimates, some 30,000 have arrived, while the DR Congolese Information Minister Didier Mumengi put the figure at 100,000 in an interview with the Kinshasa newspaper Le Phare. The refugees, mainly government officials, soldiers and police with their families, have been fleeing since the resumption of clashes in Angolan provinces adjacent to the DRC, which has a 2,600 kilometres (1550 mile) long border with Angola. The UN refugee commission office here issued a communiqué Wednesday saying the humanitarian problems affecting newly arrived refugees had been brought under control. The resumption of tensions in neighbouring Angola, the communiqué said, had obliged the United Nations commission to suspend a massive repatriation operation involving some 101,000 out of 106,000 Angolan refugees in the DRC according to a 1996 census.

• Sunday Times (19/07) reports that Alexander Poplavski, 27, was not short of emigration options when he became disillusioned with the economic climate in Odessa four years ago. Germany and Canada had granted approval, yet he chose Cape Town. Today Poplavski is a permanent resident of South Africa and product manager at an Internet company at the Waterfront. South Africans will be amazed, but Poplavski finds that the financial insecurity and crime here do not compare with the frightening situation at home. "Before 1990 (when the Soviet Union dissolved) it was safe, but I bet it will improve. If Mandela’s policies continues, we have a great future", he says. His message to pessimists: "If you don’t like it here, go somewhere else. Don’t be negative around me. I want to make the most of it."

• The Star (18/07) reports that the Department of Home Affairs is to investigate allegations that "illegal immigrants" can buy citizenship papers through corrupt officials. Nationals from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland can reportedly acquire South African citizenship if they have the right connections and enough cash. All they need is two identity photos and the money demanded. Department of Home Affairs officials in Krugersdorp and Strijdom-Park are said to be among those selling documents to foreigners. "Illegal immigrants" pay as little as R70 for the priceless booklets. It is said that corrupt officials within the Department are operating a booming business. Several foreigners who have received SA citizenship through bribery and corruption have spoken about the methods they used. "We came up with new names when we made the applications", said one informant. "The official will check the given surnames against similar ones in South Africa. Then the particulars of the person with the same surname will be entered as your parent. This is not at all easy to detect when applications are processed in Pretoria. On the first day you pay half the fee and get issued with a duplicate, and the balance is due on receipt of the ID. Normally, the official will phone you when the ID has arrived".

• SAPA (Pretoria 17/07) reports that the Department of Home Affairs on Friday night said it was not prepared to take part in an immigration policy workshop with a prohibited person on a Section 41 permit among the delegates. The department was reacting to claims by Lawyers for Human Rights that Home Affairs officials walked out of the workshop on Thursday because of the presence of the "prohibited person", although that person had been granted permission to continue working for the LHR. The department said in a statement that it had always worked closely with all "stakeholders and role players with interest in migration matters" and would continue to do so. The department said the LHR had been informed that until the minister had decided one way or another, the department would not condone "their behaviour by taking part in activities where this person is in their delegation". Earlier, LHR director Vinodh Jaichand said the so-called prohibited person was James Schneider, a Canadian working with LHR's refugee rights project. Jaichand said a High Court judge last month gave Schneider permission to continue working for LHR to train a black South African to lead the refugee project. "Upon discovering Schneider's presence at the meeting, the Home Affairs officials, who had agreed to attend the meeting as observers only, left under a departmental mandate," Jaichand said. The workshop, convened by the Institute for Democracy in SA, was to discuss a report published in March by international group Human Rights Watch on the mistreatment of non-citizens and refugees. LHR said the absence of Home Affairs officials contrasted sharply with the participation of the SA Police Service, the border police, the Ministry of Safety and Security, and the Dyambu Trust, the managers of the Lindela detention facility for undocumented migrants. Centre for Applied Legal Studies spokesman Jonathan Klaaren said Home Affairs had refused to participate in similar workshops in the past. "The walk out is typical of a department that has failed to show up in the policy debate around immigration," Klaaren said.

• Cape Argus (16/07) reports that immigration officials at Cape Town International Airport are angry over a Department of Home Affair decision to halt payment of production bonuses. The salary cuts have meant that many are struggling to keep their heads above water. In some cases workers have taken a cut of R2,500 a month. For the past 22 years the bonuses have been paid to immigration officials who do not get overtime pay. They are now adamant that it cannot just be taken away without some other form of compensation for their after-hours work. They said they were eligible for the production bonus only if they did not take leave. Because immigration officials have to be on duty when international flights arrive, staff is forced to work irregular hours. Should a flight be delayed, they have to wait for it.

• SAPA (Melbourne 15/07) reports that a white South African woman and her two daughters have been refused refugee status in Australia. The ruling follows growing resentment in rural Australia about refugees and immigrants. Cheryl Kennedy has been fighting a year-long battle to gain asylum in Australia for herself and her two young daughters, the first such claim by a white South African. Kennedy says she is the victim of intolerable crime and reverse discrimination in South Africa, but the Australian refugee tribunal upheld an earlier immigration department ruling against granting her refugee status.

• SAPA (Geneva 14/07) reports that thousands of Angolans have arrived in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fleeing new fighting between Luanda government forces and UNITA rebels, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday. Some 7,000 refugees arrived last week in the southeast of the former Zaire, bringing to 22,000 the number of Angolans sheltering in the DRC, according to Kris Janowski, a UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman. Janowski said efforts to aid refugees in the DRC's Kisange and Lower Zaire regions were hampered by a poor harvest and bureaucratic problems. Janowski said UNHCR is buying food supplies in Congo to transport to the refugees within a few days.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 14/07) reports that South Africa and Mozambique signed an agreement to establish a one-stop border post facility at the Ressano Garcia/Lebombo border post. The move, prompted by dramatic increases in road, rail and pedestrian traffic between the two countries, will result in the upgrading of the Lebombo border control facility. The project will take an estimated 24 months to complete. It is expected to be South Africa's gateway to the Maputo Development Corridor. "A public-private partnering of a finance, build and leaseback model is being explored. Although some aspects of its operations may be out-sourced, both governments will retain the core functions of user departments," a statement from the department of public works said. The agreement was signed in Maputo by Public Works Minister Jeff Radebe and his Mozambican counterpart, Roberto Collins Costley-White.

• The Star (13/07) reports that police shot and injured an inmate when naked "illegal immigrants" awaiting deportation ran amok at the Kempton Park police holding cells. The foreign nationals were described by police as aggressive and as having been involved in previous riots. The police officer who shot the inmate claimed it was in self-defence as the naked prisoners were assaulting the police. Spokesman Inspector Marcia Haveman said the prisoners stripped naked and soaked their clothes in urine and feces after breaking the cell toilet. They then threw their clothes at other inmates and police officers. They also apparently set fire to cell blankets and damaged the cell walls, which they scratched with broken pieces from the damaged toilet. Haveman said charges of malicious damage to property, assault on police officials, and arson had been laid against the prisoners.

• SAPA (Lusaka 13/07) reports that Angola and Zambia have identified areas for the establishment of border posts on the troubled frontier between the two countries. A survey was done on the Zambian side and recommended establishment of adjacent border controls on the Angolan side at Chingui, Shangombo and Sikongo in Zambia's western province. The Angolan embassy in Lusaka said senior military officials from Angola's Cuando Cubango and Moxico recently met their Zambian counterparts from Mongu in western province and Solwezi in north-western province. Angolan military delegation leader General Augustinho Nelumba described the meeting with the Zambian military as fruitful, the embassy said. The meeting enabled the Angolans to physically survey and identify suitable areas as border posts.

• Sunday Times (12/07) reports that Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Parliament’s portfolio committee chairman Desmond Lockey are at loggerheads over a decision to order a Chinese family to leave Cape Town. The permanent residence permits issued to Sui Fun Lai, her husband Chi Keung Lai and their two daughters have been revoked. They have lived here for three years but were given less than a week to leave the country. The Minister of Home Affairs (Buthelezi) and his director general may have based their instruction on the wrong section of the Aliens Control Act. It appears that the decision was made in terms of the Section 30 (2) (f) of the Aliens Control Act of 1991 Lockey wrote to Buthelezi. This section applies only to that category of persons who are granted immigration permits (and) do not enter South Africa for the purpose of permanent residence. Lockey further argued that there is absolutely no evidence that suggests that the family did not enter the country for permanent residence.

• Business Day (10/07) reports that the presence of temporary immigrants must be accepted as a permanent feature of South African society. Attempts to implement more stringent controls have been unsuccessful, resulting in a waste of financial and human resources. Migration to South Africa is an inevitable feature of the migrant labour system in mining and agriculture. However, many foreigners are not authorized to be here and by definition fall outside the law. This is because the principal act that governs immigration does not provide appropriately for their legal entry. Migrants require short-term, temporary residence in SA. They continually commute between the places they call home, in their countries of origin and in South Africa. They are subject to sanctions of the Aliens Control Act, but fall beyond the protective reach of the law. They are therefore vulnerable to a range of abusive and exploitative practices.

• SAPA (Cape Town 10/07) reports a court interdict seeking the renewal of temporary residence permits of two lesbian couples was filed against Minister of Home Affairs Mangosuthu Buthelezi. The interdict was filed by the couples and the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality. The coalition said in a statement the refusal to renew the permits was a blatant disregard for the constitutional guarantees of equality and privacy. The interdict came in the wake of a court application against the same respondents in March in the High Court seeking to declare the Aliens Control Act unconstitutional. The application would be heard in December. The coalition said months of negotiation and promises from the department ended with deportation orders and harassment of lesbian and gay people. But earlier in June, the majority of couples involved in the case were informed they could remain in the country until the court had decided the issue.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 04/07) reports that South Africa needs specialized teams for border control, Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi said in Johannesburg on Saturday on his return from a study tour of German border control and immigration methods. Buthelezi said German border policing methods and equipment showed how under-resourced South Africa was. He said South Africa planned to borrow some of the German policies and operations selectively without affecting its own constitutional stipulations. A task team would publish a white paper on the overhaul of South Africa's immigration and naturalization laws. He said the government did not have the money to police the estimated two to five million "illegal immigrants" in South Africa but money spent on implementing new immigration measures would be well spent. Buthelezi said immigrants arrived in South Africa illegally not only from African countries but from throughout the world. "It is not a problem related only to black people," he said. New legislation would also address the issue of protecting job prospects for unemployed South Africans as well as the exploitation of "illegal immigrants" for low wages.

• SAPA (Munich 02/07) reports that in discussions with ministers and German officials, Buthelezi said he discussed the federal option, as well as learning more about how Germany coped with "illegal immigrants", border controls and related issues. "They have problems here in Germany, but we are clearly not even scratching the surface. Using dogs, airplanes, and boats, the Germans have a special police force responsible for stamping out illegal immigration." If South Africa could not have a special unit to handle "illegal immigrants" it would be feasible to give special training to soldiers to help deal with the problem. Buthelezi said South Africa was overhauling its migration legislation and a final White Paper was being drafted to change immigration and naturalization laws. He said the country needed highly skilled professionals. "We are aware that many advanced countries owe their development to immigrants. We also recognize the need for immigrants who have skills and knowledge not readily available in SA, to keep abreast of technological and other advances, to replace expertise lost through emigration - and to prevent economic stagnation."

• The Star (02/07) reports that in Nelspruit, the South African National Defense Force has embarked on a drive to intensify security along Mpumalanga’s borders with neighbouring countries in a bid to counter the influx of foreigners into the province. SANDF spokesman Lize Pienaar said that troops were conducting operational patrols and roadblocks in order to arrest "illegal immigrants" from Mozambique and Swaziland, as well as local culprits involved in dagga trafficking and various other crimes. She said commandos have arrested 416 "illegals" crossing the border, among them 55 women and 19 children, during the operational patrols in the last two weeks.

• Business Day (02/07) reports that three-quarters of the chartered accountants who qualified recently are expected to leave South Africa, says Graham Burnside, managing director of Grey appointments. He was commenting after the announcement last week of the results of this year’s qualifying examinations set by the Public Accountants and Auditors board. "We have been speaking to a lot of candidates and our research has shown that 75% of this year’s qualifying chartered accountants will go and work overseas". As a result of this brain drain, head hunting was booming as local companies went after the fewer good candidates. Companies interviewed most of the candidates for this year in February and March, before they qualified. The company said it would take them whether they pass of fail. Many of the blue chip companies have widened their parameters and will accept candidates with lesser qualifications.

• Business Day (02/07) reports that according to research conducted for Business Day by Market Research Africa, almost two-thirds of all South Africans believe the government’s immigration policies regarding foreigners working and living in South Africa are too soft. This report was compiled from a sample of 2,502 respondents representing almost 14 million people from across the democratic spectrum including foreigners. Strong opposition to the regulations came from all population groups. Coloured respondents in particular, were outspoken on the issue, with 79% believing immigration to South Africa was too easy. Indians (77%) and whites (71%) followed them, while almost 62% of blacks thought the same. According to the survey, only 17% of the population thought immigration laws were adequate, while just 16% said they were too strict. Blacks were three times as likely as other groups to believe the policies were too harsh.
  

Updated September 21, 1998