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SOUTHERN AFRICAN MIGRATION
PROJECT
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Migration News -
October 1998
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- Estelle Randall of the Argus (31/10) reports that
amid growing anti-foreigner sentiment in South Africa,
parliament is scheduled to pass legislation granting
improved rights for refugees. A recent study by the
Southern African Migration Project found xenophobia in
South Africa was on the increase. That was mainly because
of rumours and stereotyping of foreigners. According to
the study, only 6%of South Africans favour people from
other countries entering South Africa freely. Twenty-five
percent want a total ban and 45% want to limit entry. An
important new provision in the bill is that asylum
seekers whose applications for refugee status have been
rejected will be given written reasons for rejections
within 14 days. It defines refugees as people who have
fled their own country fearing persecution because of
their race, tribe, nationality, political opinion or
their membership of a particular social group. People who
flee their own country because of war or events that
seriously disturb or disrupt public order would also
qualify for refugee status. Foreigners, who have
committed crimes against humanity, crimes against peace
or war crimes are not eligible for refugee status.
According to the bill, the approval process for refugee
status should not exceed six months. The appeal procedure
should not take more than three months. Desmond Lockey,
the Chair of Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee,
was careful to draw a distinction between refugees -
about 49,000, according to the department of Home Affairs
– and "illegal immigrants", estimated at
anything between 2,5 million to eight million.
- The Star (30/10) reports that the South African
farmers who trekked to Zambia more than four years ago
are counting their blessings. They may have taken a
chance when they sold their possessions in South Africa
to move north of the Limpopo but now, they say, "we
sleep safely in our beds here". David Marias, Jan
Steenkamp, and Flip Bandenhorst, who farm in the
sinazongwe area in Zambia, are deeply concerned about the
number of farmers being murdered in South Africa. They
claim the trend is not new, that attacks in recent years
have merely intensified and now receive more publicity.
Possibly because they have heard what is happening in
South Africa, they have adjusted more to rural life in
Zambia and have no regrets about leaving the country of
their birth. ‘Here our houses stay unlocked at
night," said Marais. The South African farmers say
they have been treated fairly by the government but that
there are no farming support structures in place: no one
to help dispose of crops, no markets to help sell, no
government assistance and poor roads. Despite
difficulties, they are successfully growing and selling
winter grains, millet, maize, sorghum, paprika and
cotton. "We have to do it all ourselves, its been
good experience," said Marais.
- SAPA (Harare 27/10) reports that the South African
High Commission in Harare on Tuesday rejected allegations
that it was responsible for the death last week of a
Zimbabwean woman who suffocated with 18 others in a
container truck while attempting to cross the South
African border illegally. The statement followed a media
report on Monday in which a Bulawayo man, who works
legally in South Africa, blamed the high commission for
the death of his wife, who tried three times
unsuccessfully to get a visa from the embassy so she
could visit him. The high commission said visa statistics
for 1998 clearly showed that it was making every effort
to accommodate Zimbabwean citizens wishing to travel to
South Africa. "During the first nine months of this
year, the consular office of the high commission in
Harare, which is South Africa's busiest worldwide, issued
136,474 visitor's visas to Zimbabwean citizens."
"Only 1,669 or 1.2 percent of all applicants were
unsuccessful during this period," the statement
said. The high commission expressed its condolences to
the families of those who died in the tragedy.
- PANA (Cotonou, Benin 27/10) reports that some 700
persons without identification papers were rounded up
Saturday by the police in a ''clamp down operation'' in
Cotonou, police sources said Tuesday. The majority of the
people arrested are from Nigeria. The sources said the
arrests were part of a series of such operations to stem
''the growing insecurity which usually reigns in the
different cities toward end-of-year celebrations.'' A few
days ago, a similar operation in the areas adjacent to
the big market of Cotonou netted some 300 "illegal
immigrants".
- The Post of Zambia (Livingstone 27/10) reports
that the Ministry of Home Affairs permanent secretary
Joseph Kasongo has warned the immigration department
against over detention of aliens. Officiating at the
Regional and Senior officers' conference held at
Wasawange Lodge in Livingstone yesterday, he said
immigration in the public eye is associated with the over
detention of aliens. "There has been too much
negative reporting on the operations of the immigration
department, on the aliens and you have not done anything
to counteract this image," Kasongo said. He said the
public relations department must develop proactive
strategies which are aimed at building the image of the
department. Kasongo said the rebuilding of the image must
not allow the department to compromise their function of
regulating and controlling the entry and stay of
foreigners in the country. Kasongo said organised crime
as seen through drug and arms trafficking, money
laundering and trafficking in nuclear materials was fast
closing in on Southern Africa. Kasongo told the
participants to combat cross-border crime and examine
strategies for strengthening regional co-operation within
the gambit of SADC. He said government was unable to
provide all the necessary logistical requirements for the
effective enactment of the Immigration and Deportation
Act of the laws of Zambia.
- Business Day (26/10) reports that police in
Zimbabwe have released the names of eight of the 18
illegals who suffocated in a container truck while en
route to South Africa. Eighteen bodies and two survivors
were found in Botswana’s Tlokweng village, 20 Km
from Gaborone, after the track driver dumped them. The
photographs are being displayed at the Bulawayo police
station’s criminal investigations department so that
members of the public can assist in identifying the
remaining bodies. Relatives of the eight corroborated
their identities and confirmed that they were among
people who left for SA. Police from Botswana, South
Africa and Zimbabwe have launched a joint operation to
locate the missing driver and his accomplice. Zimbabwean
police said they have particulars of both the driver and
the owner of the Truck Company, and that they have
launched a massive manhunt for other members of the cross
border syndicate who had gone into hiding. One of the
suspected members of the syndicate spoke to police and
was assisting the police with their investigations.
- The East African (Kampala 26/10) reports that a
bill seeking the compulsory registration of all Ugandans
for national identification cards is now ready for debate
in Parliament soon. The Uganda Citizenship and
Immigration Control Bill 1998, released on August 28 and
signed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Major Tom
Butime, also seeks to regulate the issuance of passports
and other travel documents and to provide for strict
regulation and control of foreigners. It also seeks to
set up a National Citizenship And Immigration Board
consisting of a chairperson and not less than four other
members appointed by the president with the approval of
Parliament as provided by Article 16 of the 1995
Constitution. The board will register and issue national
IDs, passports and other travel documents to all
Ugandans. According to the draft Bill made available to
The East African last week, the board will also be
responsible for granting or canceling citizenship by
registration and naturalization. The Bill requires every
citizen to be registered by the board and allocated a
national identification number. It will be a duty of
every citizen to apply to be registered, the Bill says.
According to the 1995 Constitution, there are three ways
one can attain the citizenship of Uganda - by
registration, by birth and by naturalization.
- Carmel Rickard of the Sunday Times (South Africa
25/10) reports that immigration officials, long
regarded as a law unto themselves, have been told in a
landmark High Court judgment that they are bound to
follow the Constitution and must treat aliens as fairly
as they do citizens. The ruling was made by Durban High
Court judge Ken Mthiyane, who had been asked to intervene
in the case of an "illegal immigrant" from
Ghana, after officials told him to leave the country.
Until now, it was widely believed that the Department of
Home Affairs had an almost unfettered discretion when
they decided who would be granted residence permits and
who would be refused them. However, Judge Mthiyane held
that the Constitution's guarantee of the right to fair
administrative procedures also applied to people regarded
as aliens. He wrote: "Every individual who comes
before the courts in this country, whether high or low,
rich or poor, alien or local, is entitled to enjoy the
benefits flowing from the supremacy of the
Constitution." A number of previous cases have held
that the state had an absolute and exclusive discretion
as to whether to allow foreign nationals into its
territory. However, Judge Mthiyane said that even if the
Aliens Control Act gave the minister wide discretion in
dealing with aliens, this discretion had to be exercised
constitutionally. He said he could find nothing in the
Constitution to support the idea that when it came to
administrative fairness, an official was entitled to
treat an alien differently to a citizen. Lawyers said the
judge's ruling would send a message to the powerful
Department of Home Affairs that its decisions would be
closely scrutinized by the court to see whether it had
acted fairly.
- SAPA (Johannesburg 23/10) reports that the
National Party on Friday said the discovery of 18 bodies,
believed to be those of Zimbabwean nationals who
suffocated in an enclosed truck in Botswana on their way
to illegally enter South Africa, highlighted a crisis. NP
home affairs spokesman Coetzee Beste said the party
believed that the situation with regards to "illegal
immigrants" was out of control. "A full-blown
crisis is in the making. Growing demands by "illegal
foreigners" on financial, health, social and housing
assistance are a threat to the legitimate demands of
South Africans for jobs and services," said Beste.
He said the crisis needed to be avoided at all costs for
the sake of orderly economical activities,
infrastructure, social services and democratic stability
in all Southern African countries. Beste accused the
South African government of being unwilling to control
"illegal immigrants". The NP called on all
role-players, including government, political parties,
the private sector, foreign aid organizations and private
individuals, to curb the influx of "illegal
immigrants". Beste said the best method to control
them was to establish stable economies with job and
development opportunities, and a stable democracy in each
of the countries in Southern Africa. He said this should
be one of the main functions of the Southern African
Development Community. According to estimates by the
Human Sciences Research Council, there are between 2,5
million and 4,1 million "illegal immigrants" in
South Africa.
- SAPA-DPA (Johannesburg 23/10) reports that foreign
Africans, whether they are refugees, asylum seekers,
"illegal immigrants", or visitors, are
beginning to see local - especially black South Africans
- as hostile, racist and increasingly xenophobic.
"There is widespread suspicion of immigrants and the
whole idea of immigration, and South Africans are more
hostile towards immigrants than citizens of virtually
every other country in the world for which data is
available," Professor Jonathan Crush, co-director of
the Southern African Migration Project said in the Star
newspaper. The project, an analysis of the immigration
issue, found one third of the South African population
favoured the total prohibition of foreigners from
entering the country. Poverty among the South African
masses "still grappling with the somewhat elusive
benefits of freedom from apartheid and oppression",
is all too often cited as the underlying reason. Locals
say foreigners take their jobs, contributing to already
high levels of unemployment - all without reciprocation.
They also claim their African neighbours bring disease
and are the main perpetrators of crime. Already studies
indicate that African immigrant businessmen were creating
jobs for South African workers in the small and medium
enterprise sectors.
But, it is on the soil of the new South Africa, a land
which professes to have eradicated discrimination, racism and
intolerance, where foreign Africans are met with the kind of
hostility once reserved only for the oppressor. Many
immigrants and refugees in South Africa, however, find
themselves forced to do menial jobs, the kind that South
Africans are loath to do. An illegal status coupled with a
determination to survive away from home appears to create the
perfect environment for exploitation at the hands of
unscrupulous employers. The immigration problem is compounded
by the fact that South Africa has no clear immigration
policy. Alleged police brutality, apparent routine raids on
legal and illegal immigrants alike and an unsympathetic
justice system has never been adequately addressed.
- SAPA (Johannesburg 23/10) reports that the
National Party on Friday said the discovery of 18 bodies,
believed to be those of Zimbabwean nationals who
suffocated in an enclosed truck in Botswana on their way
to illegally enter South Africa, highlighted a crisis.
Two people survived the incident and regained
consciousness among the bodies dumped near the village of
Tlokweng, 20km from the Botswana-South Africa border on
Wednesday. NP home affairs spokesman Coetzee Beste said
the party believed that the situation with regards to
"illegal immigrants" was out of control.
"A full-blown crisis is in the making. Growing
demands by illegal foreigners on financial, health,
social and housing assistance are a threat to the
legitimate demands of South Africans for jobs and
services," said Beste. He said the crisis needed to
be avoided at all costs for the sake of orderly
economical activities, infrastructure, social services
and democratic stability in all Southern African
countries. Beste accused the South African government of
being unwilling to control "illegal
immigrants". The NP called on all role-players,
including government, political parties, the private
sector, foreign aid organizations and private
individuals, to curb the influx of "illegal
immigrants". Beste said the best method to control
them was to establish stable economies with job and
development opportunities, and a stable democracy in each
of the countries in Southern Africa.
- Reuters (Gaborone 23/10) reports that Botswana
police said that 18 people suffocated to death in a
closed truck as they tried to cross the border into South
Africa this week. "We have never before had so many
people dead in one case," assistant police
superintendent Chris Mbulawe told Reuters. He said police
were searching for the driver of the truck which was
found at the village of Tlokweng, about 20 km (12 miles)
from the Botswana-South African border. Two survivors
were taken to hospital. Mbulawe said the victims were
thought to be Zimbabweans who had planned to illegally
enter South Africa through Botswana. Botswana repatriates
more than 1,000 "illegal immigrants" every
month, most of them Zimbabweans heading for South Africa.
Last year, bowing to pressure from human rights groups,
Botswana agreed to build a 15 million pula ($3.4 million)
detention centre to house "illegal immigrants"
instead of keeping them in prisons before they are
repatriated.
- SAPA (Johannesburg 23/10) reports that foreign
Africans, whether they are refugees, asylum seekers,
"illegal immigrants", or visitors are beginning
to see locals - especially black South Africans - as
hostile, racist and increasingly xenophobic. "There
is widespread suspicion of immigrants and the whole idea
of immigration, and South Africans are more hostile
towards immigrants than citizens of virtually every other
country in the world for which data is available,"
Professor Jonathan Crush, co-director of the Southern
African Migration Project said in the Star newspaper. The
project, an analysis of the immigration issue, found one
third of the South African population favoured the total
prohibition of foreigners from entering the country.
Poverty among the South African masses "still
grappling with the somewhat elusive benefits of freedom
from apartheid and oppression", is all too often
cited as the underlying reason. Locals say foreigners
from countries like Zimbabwe, Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda,
Burundi and Nigeria take their jobs, contributing to
already high levels of unemployment - all without
reciprocation. They also claim their African neighbours
bring disease and are the main perpetrators of crime.
But, it is on the soil of the new South Africa, a land
which professes to have eradicated discrimination, racism
and intolerance, where foreign Africans are met with the
kind of hostility once reserved only for the oppressor.
- The Cape Argus (Johannesburg 22/10) reports that
international syndicates are using South Africa as a
transit point for a huge slave trade between developing
countries and Europe, the United States and Canada. A
detective from a South African police unit investigating
the trade said migrants from foreign countries such as
India were being lured to a number of "transit
countries", including South Africa, "with
stories of money and jobs - land-of-milk-and-honey
stuff" - in the Western world. He said aliens had to
pay for air tickets and were then helped into South
Africa, entering either at Johannesburg International
Airport or landing in neighbouring countries and
"jumping the fence". Once in South Africa
criminal agents provided the migrants with accommodation
and documentation before they moved on to the next
destination - where they had to pay off their debt. The
victims were forced into prostitution, drug dealing or
other criminal activity or ended up as virtual slaves in
factories to pay off their debt. The trade is said to
number hundreds of thousands of people in transit or in
captivity at any one time.
- Mildred Mulenga reports for PANA (Lusaka, Zambia
22/10) that member states of the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa have agreed to abolish visas
for their citizens traveling within 20 countries of the
regional economic grouping by 2000. The states have also
resolved to step up cooperation in crime prevention and
detection following the revocation of the visa
requirements in order to effectively maintain law and
order in the region. The second stage of the protocol,
after elimination of visas and implementation of
anti-crime mechanisms, would involve implementation of
measures intended to enhance the movement of skilled
labour. He said the concept of free factor movement,
particularly for persons, should be viewed positively as
a goal intended to facilitate the movement of genuine
travelers, especially businessmen who increase
cross-border trade and investment within the region. He
said governments in the region should discard the notion
that free movement would lead to an influx of people,
particularly unwanted immigrants. This, he said, would be
prevented through the active cooperation of immigration
authorities in the exchange of information.
- SAPA (Johannesburg 21/10) reports that the railing
of foreign doctors in South Africa against the health
minister's policy of regulating their entry was
unacceptable, SA Medical and Dental Practitioners'
chairman Dr M Mabasa said on Wednesday. "This
military convention of foreign doctors against our
Ministry of Health is completely despicable and, at
worst, opportunistic," he said in a statement in
Johannesburg. "Their influx cannot be
unregulated." The SAMDP agreed with Health Minister
Nkosazana Zuma that foreign doctors should only enter the
country on a government to government contractual basis,
and that work permits should not be automatically
renewable. But since the Pretoria High Court ruled
against foreign doctors writing an entrance examination
before being employed in private practice, they had
extended their demands to include automatic renewal of
work permits, he said. "Foreign doctors cannot come
and claim to have the same constitutional rights as the
citizens of this country," said Mabasa. The doctors
who contested the regulations in court all received South
African citizenship and worked in state hospitals.
Although foreign doctors claimed they were being
discriminated against, it was appropriate that preference
in employment opportunities be given to local doctors.
- REUTERS (Freetown 21/10) reports that Sierra Leone
has rescinded an order to deport en masse foreign
nationals who failed to produce valid residence or work
permits by a deadline which passed last week, labour
officials said on Wednesday. They said the move followed
a massive response from affected people -- mostly
Lebanese, Asians and West Africans -- who rushed to
regularize their stay before the October 15 deadline.
"Close to 5,000, Lebanese, Indians, Europeans,
Americans, and African nationals have registered and
secured work permits", state radio said on
Wednesday. Labour officials said, however, that the
government would not relent in its crackdown on
"illegal immigrants" in the war-ravaged West
African country.
- The Times of Zambia (Lusaka 20/10) reports that
the Emerald and Small Miners Association of Zambia
(ESMAZ) has instituted investigations on some executive
committee members who are accused of issuing passes to
aliens to the restricted emerald mining area. ESMAZ
president Ndiwa Yuyi said in Kitwe yesterday his
association has received a number of complaints from
miners in the area accusing some executive committee
members of issuing permits to "illegal aliens".
He said the permits which are issued to all people going
to the area would be scrutinized and the official, whose
signature would be found on aliens’ passes will
automatically be expelled from the association. ESMAZ has
of late been accused of issuing permits to aliens who
have infiltrated the emerald area. Mine owners have
complained that the West Africans' presence in the area
was a danger to their business as miners were now
stealing emeralds and selling them to the aliens at
give-away prices.
- Cape Times (18/10) reports that a special
anti-corruption unit in the Department of Home Affairs
has arrested two senior employees of the department and
an administrative clerk on fraud allegations involving
illegal Taiwanese families. They are Umtata regional
office head Nikiwe Tanda and Umtata chief immigration
officer Nelson Hlengiwe, who are charged with accepting
bribes of money and liquor for getting Taiwanese families
permanent residence. The arrest of the two senior
officials follows the arrest of nine policemen and a
senior director of Home Affairs two month ago in
connection with corruption, fraud, theft and defeating
the ends of justice. The Taiwanese family from whom the
money was alleged extorted gave themselves up to the
authorities after the arrest of the policemen and Home
Affairs officials.
- Business Day (16/10) reports a study on xenophobia
and migration in South Africa has found that the three
most common fears leading to an increased feeling of
xenophobia among South Africans were the fear of crime,
economic competition, and disease. At a one-day
conference on xenophobia in Johannesburg organized by the
SA Human Rights Commission, Paul Graham, an executive at
the Institute for Democracy in SA said "these fears,
whether rational or not, should be taken seriously, they
have the potential to result in abusive and violent
behavior towards foreigners". Referring to initial
findings in a survey by the Southern African Migration
Project, Graham said 48% of respondents feared immigrants
were involved in crime and were a threat to jobs. Nearly
a third of respondents feared diseases such as HIV/AIDS
from foreigners. He added that 25% of South Africans
wanted a total prohibition and another 45% wanted strict
limits on people from other countries coming into South
Africa. Only 6% were in favour of freedom of entry.
"I want to make use of the information collected by
the project to suggest there is increasingly generalized
antipathy towards non-South Africans" this antipathy
was largely driven by second hand information and limited
personal experience, he said. He warned that the issue of
xenophobia needed to be addressed as it cut to the heart
of public issues such as crime, jobs and housing. Failure
to address it in policy, legislation and state practice
would have consequences for the country’s human
rights reputation.
- SAPA (Johannesburg 15/10) reports that a
conference on xenophobia, initiated by the SA Human
Rights Commission, called for a public awareness campaign
to educate South Africans about the problem and its
effects. HRC chairman Dr Barney Pityana said in
Johannesburg that one of the aims of such a campaign
would be to educate people on the rights of
non-nationals. In this regard he said government should
be involved, particularly in the training of relevant
government officials dealing with non-nationals. "On
the long term South Africa cannot see itself in isolation
from the rest of the region." Pityana said the
region needed to be stabilized in order to create job
opportunities, and in so doing prevent many foreigners
from coming to South Africa to find employment.
"South Africa as part of the Southern African
Development Community should play its part to stabilize
the region," Pityana said. The conference adopted a
draft declaration in which delegates stated there should
be a co-ordinated approach to address xenophobia and its
manifestations and rights' based policies and legislation
to address this problem, and their application should be
without discrimination.
- Emma Thomasson for Reuters (Cape Town 15/10)
reports that the president who vowed to forge a future
for all races after 27 years in jail says those
abandoning ship for a better life overseas are not true
South Africans. "Those who have not got the courage
and the patriotism to remain in their country -- Let them
go!" Mandela said. "It is good riddance!"
The majority of the so-called deserters are not bad
rubbish, but the trained professionals South Africa badly
needs to help build its economy to improve the lives of
millions of black citizens impoverished under apartheid.
Official figures show that more than 10,000 fled the
nation's mean streets last year, over half of them
economically active and more than 2,000 in professions
like engineering, medicine and teaching. But Mandela has
said fear of crime is mainly a white preoccupation,
fomented by a mainly white-owned press, while
predominantly black and coloured areas suffer the brunt
of violent crime in silence. Bob Mattes, a pollster who
has conducted a recent survey on behalf of the Southern
Africa Migration Project, said his research showed only a
modest correlation between indicators of patriotism and
willingness to leave the country. "The picture is
not of an unpatriotic, ungrateful group unprepared to
serve their country," he said. "Rather with
concerns over safety and security as the most often cited
reasons for leaving, the picture is more one of a group
of people with the means to so do leaving under
duress."
Vincent Williams, South African Project Manager of the
Southern African Migration Project, says the debate on
emigration is characterized by rhetoric and scare-mongering.
"This is the kind of thing political parties will use to
score points, especially in the run up to the election,"
he said. "Crime figures are declining, but there is a
public perception things are getting worse and political
parties have an interest in maintaining those
perceptions." A survey conducted by Williams' project
showed that only a very small percentage said they were very
likely to emigrate and found that skilled white workers were
no more likely to want to leave than skilled blacks.
Pretoria's immigration procedure is bureaucratic, slow and
has no means of targeting the skills needed, Williams says.
Last year, 4,532 people moved to South Africa permanently,
only 607 of them professionals or semi-professionals. While
South Africans are snapped up by Australia, Canada and New
Zealand, which all operate point systems that reward youth
and skills, this country lacks proper labour market
statistics to enable it to identify shortages, Williams says.
Williams says South African immigration is entirely
discretionary and tainted by xenophobia.
- REUTERS (Freetown 15/10) reports that hundreds of
Lebanese, Asians and West African immigrants have
converged on labour offices in Sierra Leone in an attempt
to escape a government crackdown on "illegal
immigrants", officials said on Thursday. Foreigners
without valid work or residence permits had to regularize
their stay by Wednesday or face deportation and possible
closure of their businesses. "Starting from today
our ministry has embarked on a massive search for
‘illegal immigrants’", a labour official
in the capital Freetown told Reuters. An official
statement read on state radio on October 8 said large
numbers of Lebanese, Indians and West African immigrants
had entered the country and secured jobs without valid
permits. It said people found in violation of the
country's labour and immigration laws after October 14
"will face the full force of the law",
including closure of businesses.
- The BBC News Service (14/10) reports that
relations between South Africa's black population and
immigrants from the rest of Africa worsened after the
transition from apartheid to democracy, a new report
suggests. A survey by the Centre for Policy Studies says
black migrants from neighbouring states seeking work
became the focus of hostility from black South Africans
after the post-apartheid election in 1994. According to
the study's findings, xenophobia rose as the new
multi-racial South Africa began to face harsh economic
realities and job shortages after the 1994 elections. The
survey says foreigners were blamed for taking South
African jobs and for an increase in crime. They were also
thought to be largely responsible for the abuses of the
welfare system. Such hostility was said to have been
boosted by statements from the South African Ministry of
Home Affairs suggesting unemployment was partly due to
the large number of foreigners in South Africa, and a
willingness by the national media to reinforce this view.
- The Star (14/10) reports that the "gatvol
syndrome" is not the attitude of the broad mass of
South Africans, but of a well-off minority, not a few of
them with off-shore investments, who will stop at nothing
to damage the country’s reputation and investment
rating. Newspaper polls of South Africans’ intention
can be notoriously flawed. Only days after a Sunday paper
claimed a large number of people were considering
emigration, the Institute for a Democratic Alternative
for South Africa released a more scientific poll which
showed a less alarming picture.
- SAPA (Johannesburg 13/10) reports that a group of
about 20 "illegal immigrants" and unemployed
youths early on Tuesday morning looted a Johannesburg
store and police shot one of them dead, police spokesman
Superintendent Chris Wilken said. The group of aliens
from Mozambique and Zimbabwe and unemployed youths lived
on the streets of the central business district or at
Park station, he said. "This is the first time a
group as big as this has been involved in a break-in, and
we don't know at this stage whether it is likely to
happen more frequently," Wilken said. "But we
are aware of the fact that these people are
grouping." Two policemen on patrol found the group
ransacking an electrical appliance store in Joubert
Street at about 5am. The looters forced open the store's
steel security door with a manhole cover. Some of them
ran off, scattering stolen electrical goods in the
street, but a few of them turned on the two policemen who
fired on them, killing one man. Police arrested four of
the group, aged 16, 18, 19 and 29, Wilken said.
- SAPA (Johannesburg 13/10) reports that there is a
pervasive perception among foreigners living in South
Africa that xenophobia has increased since 1994, a survey
by the Centre for Policy Studies has found. The survey
stated that many foreigners who were interviewed
supported a claim that the relationship between
foreigners and South Africans during the apartheid era
was much better because "we were fighting a common
enemy then". According to CPS policy analyst Maxine
Reitzes, one of the perceptions emerging from the survey
was that the apparently high level of xenophobia was a
post-1994 election phenomenon. Reitzes said three
perceptions emerged from the survey concerning
relationships between foreigners and South Africans in
the workplace:
- Migrants in higher and very low income jobs
experienced less hostility from South Africans;
- Black South African workers tended to be more
xenophobic than their white co-workers, and
- Xenophobia was largely justified by the pervasive
perception that foreigners were responsible for the
high levels of unemployment.
Regarding accusations that foreigners were using social
services meant for South Africans, Reitzes said migrants were
not as inclined to use public facilities such as hospitals as
was often assumed. When they did use public hospitals, they
paid for services. Respondents who had children in South
African schools said they paid school fees, Reitzes said.
- SAPA (Johannesburg 12/10) reports that Health
Minister Nkosazana Zuma on Monday denied a weekend media
report that plans were afoot to expel foreign doctors
from South Africa. According to The Saturday Star of
October 10, about 1,300 foreign doctors could bring an
action against Zuma after a Health Department instruction
to the Department of Home Affairs not to renew their work
permits. "... Dr Nkosazana Zuma has no plans, secret
or otherwise, to expel foreign doctors... she also has
not given instructions to the Department of Home Affairs,
or anybody for that matter, not to renew their work
permits," a statement released by the Health
Department said on Monday. There was a critical shortage
of doctors in many rural parts of the country, the
department said. "For that reason, over the past
four years, government to government agreements have been
signed with Cuba, Germany and the UN Volunteer Corps
aimed at recruiting doctors to areas of greater
need." In its statement released on Monday, the
Health Department said the temporary work permits of
foreign health professionals were to be revised on an
annual basis. "The employment of foreign health
professionals is a temporary agreement for service
delivery in identified areas of dire need. If an
extension of such a contract has been offered by the
employer, well-motivated reasons should be supplied as to
why the services of a foreigner are still being
required."
- The Star (10/10) reports that emigration is real,
for whatever reason – spiraling crime, the battered
economy or a drop in education standards. The brain drain
phenomenon has received considerable attention, with a
recent survey indicating that 74% of South Africa’s
skilled labor force are considering emigrating. President
Nelson Mandela has fueled the debate by lambasting the
migration flock, deeming their actions cowardly. The loss
of already scarce skills through emigration is an
increasingly serious concern within South Africa, and
costs the economy around R250 million annually.
- Business Day (09/10) reports that the drift to
South Africa by Zimbabwe youths in search of jobs has
become a problem for education authorities at
Matabeleland. Each year thousands of children as young as
12 drop out of school and move south. Regional director
of education for Matabeleland South province, Glory
Makwati, said, as of August more than 3,000 children left
schools and most were believed to have trekked south.
"I can confirm that schools in Matabeleland south in
particular are losing many students each year because of
the South African fever", she said. Although we are
the smallest province in terms of population density, we
have always recorded the highest number of school
drop-outs every year and must be quick to point out that
it is because of the Egoli-mania which since time
immemorial has always gripped the province". Every
year, South Africa and Botswana deport large numbers of
Zimbabweans staying illegally in the countries. As of
July this year 9,000 Zimbabweans who had illegally
settled in SA were deported with an average of 150 being
ejected every day.
- Government Communications (GCIS) (9/10) issued a
statement regarding the draft protocol on the
facilitation of the movement of persons in SADC.
Regarding the meeting held at Grand Baie, Mauritius from
10th to 11th September, 1998, council considered the
draft Protocol on the Facilitation of the Movement of
Persons in the SADC Region and noted that some Member
States were still studying the Protocol and consulting at
the national level. The council approved the following:
- that the Protocol should not be considered for
adoption by the Mauritius Summit pending
finalization of internal consultations by Member
States;
- that Member States should inform the Chairman of
Council on the outcome of their internal
consultations.
- that in the meantime, Member States should
facilitate visa free entry of SADC citizens and
nationals into their territories on the basis of
bilateral arrangements and national legislation.
In the light of the above decisions of Councils, the
Secretariat would like to urge those Member States that
are still conducting internal consultations to expedite
the process and make appropriate submissions to the
Chairman of Council by 30th November, 1998. This will
enable the Secretariat to finalize the processing of the
said Protocol for submission to Council for approval in
February, 1999, and to the Summit for adoption at its
next meeting in August/September, 1999.
- SAPA (Pretoria 07/10) reports that South African
immigration agents would in future have to adhere to a
code of conduct drafted by the Home Affairs department or
face cancellation of their registration, the department
said on Wednesday. It said in a statement in Pretoria the
code, which came into effect on September 1, was aimed at
curbing unprofessional behaviour used by some agents to
obtain immigration permits for their clients. These
included bribery and the submission of forged documents.
Some agents charged their clients exorbitant fees, while
the same services were rendered free of charge by the
department. Immigration agents had to inform the
department in writing by October 31 that they committed
themselves to the code of conduct. "Failure to make
this notification will result in the assumption that an
immigration agent is not willing to abide by the new
regulations. This unwillingness would result in the
registration/licence being revoked," the department
said.
- SAPA (Pretoria 07/10) reports South African
immigration agents would in future have to adhere to a
code of conduct drafted by the Home Affairs department or
face cancellation of their registration, the department
said on Wednesday. The code is aimed at curbing
unprofessional behaviour used by some agents to obtain
immigration permits for their clients. These included
bribery and the submission of forged documents. Some
agents charged their clients exorbitant fees, while the
same services were rendered free of charge by the
department. Immigration agents had to inform the
department in writing by October 31 that they committed
themselves to the code of conduct. "Failure to make
this notification will result in the assumption that an
immigration agent is not willing to abide by the new
regulations. This unwillingness would result in the
registration/license being revoked," the department
said.
- SAPA (Johannesburg 07/10) reports that the SA
Human Rights Commission on Wednesday announced it would
co-host a conference next week on racism and xenophobia
as recent attacks on foreigners had exposed the
seriousness of the problem. HRC chairman Dr Barney
Pityana said in a statement in Johannesburg: "We
have been aware that there is a problem with the
treatment, reception and attitudes towards
foreigners." The commission would convene the
conference together with co-host the Johannesburg
Metropolitan Council to seek a common, effective,
co-ordinated and lasting approach to the problem.
"As chairman, I have held consultations with various
interested parties. It became clear that although much
was being done, there was a lack of co-ordination and
sharing of information," Pityana said. Many people
seemed to have the wrong impression that foreigners were
to blame for the problems in the country. The conference
would aim to discuss ways to show good neighbourliness to
people entering the country. "Significantly, the
primary victims of xenophobia appear to be foreigners who
originate from African states, some of them our
neighbours. It is recognized that the issue is complex,
but that is no excuse for doing nothing. The strategies
for dealing with the phenomenon will also be multiple and
complex. Doing nothing, however, is not an option. The
situation is very urgent," Pityana said. The
conference would be aimed at government, trade unions,
United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations
and national institutions.
- The Electronic Mail & Guardian (02/10) reports
that a refugee system that considers people's rights is
the aim of the Refugees Bill tabled in Parliament on
Thursday. The draft legislation sets out new ways for
dealing with refugees in line with United Nations
standards and under the supervision of an independent
refugee affairs committee. It proposes the establishment
of special refugee reception centres, with qualified
staff who will interview asylum seekers before deciding
whether to grant refugee status. Applicants will be able
to ask for review by an appeal board, but will still have
the right to take their case to the courts. The entire
administrative procedure should not take longer than six
months. Pending a decision, asylum seekers will be issued
with permits allowing them to stay, and in certain cases
work or study, in South Africa. The bill says no
applicant for refugee status should be detained for
longer than is reasonable, and that any detention of more
than 30 days must be approved by a High Court judge. It
defines a refugee, in essence, as anyone unable to return
to his or her country "owing to a well-founded fear
of being persecuted by reason of his or her race, tribe,
religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of
a particular social group", or displaced by turmoil
in that country.
- SAPA (01/10) reports that draft legislation
setting out a new system for dealing with refugees in
line with United Nations standards and under the
supervision of an independent refugee affairs committee,
was tabled in Parliament on Thursday. The main object of
the Refugees Bill is to introduce a "refugee
regime" that is rights and solution oriented,
according to an accompanying memorandum. The refugee
affairs committee will be appointed by the minister of
home affairs, with powers to draw up procedures for
granting asylum, supervise the reception offices, liaise
with the UN high commissioner for refugees, and give
advice to the minister.
- ZIANA (Harare 01/10) reports that a number of
third world countries are probably in various forms of
economic decay because most of them continue to lose
skilled personnel to industrialized countries due to
unfavourable conditions at home. With their economies in
a state of apoplexy due to skewed macro-economic
policies, civil strife coupled with falling currencies,
most developing countries, Zimbabwe included, fail to
retain skilled and experienced personnel. And as the
exodus continues, efforts are being made to reverse the
brain drain which has seen those working in foreign
countries at times being harassed for stealing the jobs
of locals.
The past months have seen Zimbabwe's
economic exiles returning home through the facilitative
efforts of the Swiss-based International Organization for
Migration (IOM). Founded in 1951 in Geneva, Switzerland,
IOM offers incentives to returnees through the purchase
of air tickets, shipment of goods and
"reintegration" allowances for those
professionals willing to return home. As for Zimbabwe,
the head of IOM Harare office, Thomas Weiss says since
the opening of its Harare offices in 1983, more than 500
professionals have benefited from the programme securing
jobs in various sectors throughout the country. More
continue to return home with 60 professionals having
either returned or applied for the IOM offers this year.
Figures released by the central statistical office in
July 1998 indicated that 1,682 professionals left the
country in 1994, most of them destined for the United
Kingdom, with neighbouring South Africa as a second
preference. During the same period in 1997, the country
lost 993 professionals to greener pastures abroad.
- The Cape Times (01/10) reports that the Institute
for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) has released
preliminary findings of a survey on skilled emigrants
from South Africa in an attempt to moderate the panic
created by recent newspaper reports. This was after the
Sunday Times published the results of its own emigration
survey, saying, "74% of skilled South Africans are
ready to quit the country". Idasa’s survey,
conducted between June and August, revealed that 20% of
their sample have a "very high" probability of
leaving South Africa in the next five years, 26% have a
"high" emigration probability and 28% a
"moderate" probability. While these were not
significant results, they were very different from the
74% suggested by the newspaper, an Idasa official said.
Commissioned by the Southern African Migration Project
(SAMP) and conducted by Idasa’s Public Opinion
Service, the survey shows that while "skilled
emigration" presents a challenge, it is highly
doubtful that the country will lose most of its skilled
sector. SAMP project manager Vincent Williams commented:
"the picture that emerges from the preliminary
findings is not one of an unpatriotic, ungrateful group
unprepared to serve their country. Rather, the picture is
one of a group of people with the means to do so leaving
under duress." He said migration was a global
phenomenon. While there was "paranoia" that it
was higher in South Africa than elsewhere, it was
"not unusual for people to be on the move".
Updated December 21,
1998