Migration News - January 1999

January 1999

• City Press (31/01) reports that Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi has said in a statement he is satisfied that Lindela Detention Center provides reasonable accommodation for "illegal aliens" awaiting deportation. Buthelezi sent a delegation of senior officials to conduct an inspection of Lindela following a request by the Gauteng Democratic Party leader Peter Leon that conditions at the center be investigated. This followed numerous complaints of assault, corruption and poor living conditions at the center made by the ex-detainees. The delegation confirmed there had been reports of assault at Lindela but said those responsible, "mostly employees from Lindela", had been convicted and discharged of their duties. It found the food to be inadequate. This is a sharp contrast of what the ex-detainees at Lindela interviewed by City Press towards the end of 1998 had to say about it. They claimed the food was not fit to eat. The delegates found that the inmates were entitled to one free phone call and had unrestricted access to four public phones on the premises. Those that City Press interviewed last year claimed Lindela security guards demanded R50 for use of the public telephones. The detainees also claimed they were not allowed to make a free phone call. The delegate found the facility to be clean and orderly. Buthelezi said in light of these findings he was satisfied that detainees were "far better off in Lindela" than in jail or correctional services. Leon said he was somehow sceptical of the findings. He said an independent, impartial investigative system needed to be set up at Lindela for detainees to lodge complaints through. He commended Buthelezi for finally responding to requests to investigate allegations of corruption and assault at Lindela.

• Financial mail (29/01) reports that the upward trend of emigration persisted last year, and with crime showing little sign of abating and a recession looming, more people are likely to join the run in the coming year. In 1997-1998 about 3% of low-level workers, 11% of skilled workers and 14% of executives who resigned did so because of emigration, reports the E-P Corporate Salary Survey, which covers 750 organizations employing 1.5 million people. This is a marked increase over 1995-1996, when only 2% of low-level workers, 5% of skilled workers and 7.5% of executives cited emigration as their reason for resigning. The fact that total staff turnover increased from 8% to 10% over the same period shows that the skills drain is gaining momentum. "The main reason for emigration remains rooted in concerns about safety and security and declining standards of essential services," says P-E Corporate Services MD Martin Wescott. " The added threat of job insecurity and possible retrenchments will tip the scale in favour of emigration for many executives considering this option.

• Business Day (28/01) reports a survey into local information technology wages has unearthed a potential time bomb – 48% of skilled professionals are considering emigrating within two years. Research by online publication ITWeb found that 21% of respondents are highly likely to emigrate and 26% somewhat likely to do so. Only 25% of information technology staff are absolutely committed to staying in South Africa and a further 12% is undecided. Sadly, the skills SA is in danger of losing are those in most demand: 27% of likely émigrés are information technology consultants, 19% network administrators, 19% programmers, and 16% engineers. A whooping 70% are aged between 20-25. Evidence that the brain drain will worsen was backed up by the respondents’ predictable concern about political instability, crime, and poor educational prospects for their children. Editor-in-chief Ranka Jovial said while government could not prevent people taking attractive career opportunities, it could be come proactive by investing more in information technology education and making it easy for skilled foreigners to obtain work permits. The survey found 59% of respondents were satisfied with their pay, but said non-monetary issues like a challenging job and good working atmosphere made a major difference to job satisfaction.

• Xinhua (Johannesburg 28/01) reports that South Africans found employing "illegal immigrants" are to face severe charges and pay for repatriation costs, a report reaching here said Thursday. The report quoted Claude Scravesande, Director of Aliens Control in the Home Affairs Department, as saying in Pretoria Thursday that it is unlawful for South Africans to employ "illegal immigrants". He said that any person found staying in the country illegally would be detained and forcibly sent home. The South African official stressed that foreigners interested in working in South Africa need to apply for a work permit. There are about 4.1 million "illegal immigrants" in South Africa, he said, adding that most of them are from neighboring countries such as Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

• Phumzile Ngwezi of the Cape Times (Pretoria 27/01) reports that the IEC's [Independent Electoral Commission] computer is telling the commission that 9.7 million South Africans registered to vote last year, but tens of thousands of non-citizens and dead people will not be allowed to vote. At least 60,000 people who registered for this year's national elections are not South African citizens or are dead, the Independent Electoral Commission revealed yesterday. Mandla Mchunu, chief electoral officer, yesterday said a total of 9.7 million South Africans registered to vote in the elections during the first phase of registration of voters in November and December last year. Out of this total, Mchunu said more than 60,000 potential voters were rejected by the IEC's computer system, which was linked to computers at the Department of Home Affairs. The computers picked up on the fact that 52,220 of those registering were not South African citizens, more than 6,200 were dead and there were at least 79 immigrants. He said those who were not South African citizens were possibly "illegal immigrants" in possession of bar-coded identity documents acquired illegally. "I am bound by law to notify the Home Affairs Department about these illegal immigrants so that it can take further action," he said.

• The Sowetan (Johannesburg 26/01) reports that between 70 and 100 doctors emigrate from South Africa every year as the country's brain drain continues. An article in the latest issue of the South African Medical Journal, shows that these figures are based on departures recorded at the country's three international airports. The figure is widely acknowledged to be an underestimate as many emigrate "unofficially". According to the South African Journal of Science, a recent study of the whereabouts of Wits medical graduates found that in the past 35 years, just over 2,000 Wits-trained doctors had left the country. Another study found that 43 percent of the University of Cape Town's contactable graduates in medicine are overseas. Meanwhile, the Foundation for Research Development Directorate for Science and Technology Policy estimates that more than 570,000 people have left the country since 1945.

• Mzilikazi Wa Afrika of the Sunday Times (24/01) reports that John "Sols" Nkuna runs his business in human cargo from Mozambique and Swaziland. Police say he has been caught on numerous occasions for smuggling illegal aliens into South Africa. He has been given spot fines ranging from R1 500 to R2 500, which he has paid. He makes his money by selling illegal labour to businesses and farmers who pay up to R600 per "illegal immigrant". The immigrants, who come looking for work, also pay him for finding them jobs - as much as R530 each. At Ressano Garcia, a border village in Mozambique, I pretended I wanted a job in Johannesburg. A man came up to me and said I should take a taxi to Maputo, where I would meet with their "chief" at a park. When I got to the park, I met a man who said his name was Augosto Makwakwa. He said he would help me get into South Africa and find a good job - I would have to pay him R480 in return. But nothing came of this and, on Wednesday morning, I took a taxi back to Ressano Garcia, where I made new contacts and was taken to a safe house in the village along with four other men. At 10pm, after 17 young men had gathered at the house, we left on a seven-hour walk to the Komatipoort border. A man led us to where we would cross the fence. After illegally entering South Africa, all of us were arrested by three South African National Defence Force soldiers. The soldiers demanded R50 from each of us and took anything else they wanted - including watches and a Bible - before letting us go. We walked another 10km and then Mboweni ordered us to wait for him. He had arranged beforehand to sell six of us - including a crippled man - to a sugar-cane farmer near Komatipoort.

• SAPA (Pretoria 23/01) reports that Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Saturday he objected to his name being dragged into what he called the "affair" of British subject Esmee Sargeant's deportation and a court order on Friday that he pay for her return to South Africa. In a statement from Pretoria, he said the matter was part of the duties he had assigned in 1996 to his deputy minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, and that any further queries should be directed to her office. "However, I must take exception to the dragging of my name into this affair. In fact, on August 19, 1996 I made an assignment of duties and functions to the deputy minister. Subject to policy decisions taken by me, (she) is responsible for dealing with individual cases regarding migration. Therefore, further comments, news enquiries and references should be referred to her office," Buthelezi said. Sargeant, who came to work at the Alexandra Clinic in Johannebsurg in 1997, was allegedly bundled into a police van and deported to Britain on January 15 after her work permit was suddenly canceled. A Pretoria High Court on Friday found the deportation irregular and ordered Home Affairs to pay for her return to South Africa so that the work permit matter could be considered further.

• SAPA (Pretoria 22/01) reports that Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi was ordered by a Pretoria High Court judge to pay for the return to South Africa of a British woman. Judge SJ Mynhardt said Esmee Sargeant was unlawfully deported by high-handed officials who seemed to think they could do what they liked. In a sharply-worded judgment, Mynha detailed how officials ignored letters from attorneys acting for Sargeant, and court papers relating to an urgent application to stop her deportation. The lawyers requested an undertaking from the department not to deport her until she lodged an application with Buthelezi to review his decision about the withdrawal of her permit. When she received no reply, Sargeant instructed her attorneys to launch an urgent application to stay her deportation, pending the outcome of the review application. These papers were served on the State Attorney's office and on a deputy director of home affairs, Andre Goosen, on January 13. They were also informed that her application would be brought to court on Tuesday, January 19. Goosen asked Sargeant's attorneys for time to consider the matter, but there was no official response from the department or any of its officials, and there was also no communication with her attorneys before she was deported. He said the department's view seemed to be that the deportation did not amount to contempt as no court order had been made at that stage. It was argued that Sargeant had no right to be in the country legally as her permit was canceled, but Mynhardt said despite the withdrawal, and even if the permit had been withdrawn lawfully, Sargeant was entitled to approach the court for an order not to be deported. He said the actions of the officials were clearly wrongful, and they were not entitled to deport her under such circumstances. Their conduct was wrong and could not be tolerated by the court.

• SAPA (Pretoria 21/01) reports that a British woman who was deported last week after the sudden cancellation of her work permit will demand in court on Friday that Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi allow her back into the country at the Department's expense. Esmee Sargeant, who came to South Africa to work at the Alexander Health Centre in 1997, claimed her deportation was irregular, unlawful and unconstitutional. In court papers it was claimed that Sargeant was not even allowed a telephone call after being escorted to the Johannesburg International Airport. She now wants a court order allowing her to lawfully enter and stay in South Africa pending her court application to restrain Home Affairs from withdrawing her work permit until the final outcome of a review. She also wants the court to order the Minister to pay for her travelling costs back to South Africa from London. She claimed that she was deported before applications for a stay of the deportation were attended to.

• Business Day (21/01) reports that the issue of whether information technology experts should be allowed into South Africa has placed two leading industry associations in opposing corners. The computer society of South Africa is hoping to increase the import of skills by asking the home affairs department to consult it when assessing work permit applications. The society has no influence when home affairs decide who qualifies for a permit. But the skill shortage means that it could be an invaluable help in identifying much needed workers. In Australia, the government consults the Australian Computer Society when it considers immigration applications. If the society says a candidate is suitably qualified, extra points are awarded, raising his chances of gaining residence. The society will lobby home affairs to adopt this policy. Under the current situation, companies wanting to recruit foreign staff must prove that the job has been extensively advertised, and that no local applicants have the necessary skills. The candidate must lodge an application from abroad, and cannot enter South Africa until the application has been approved. That process can take many more months.

• Charles Mangwiro for the African Eye News Service (Nampula 20/01) reports that Mozambican police swooped again on "illegal immigrants" in the country's northern province of Nampula after accusing foreigners of masterminding the region's growing drug smuggling trade. Nampula police chief, Basilio Monteiro, confirmed that 18 "illegal immigrants" had been arrested on drug related charges during a series of swoops over the past three weeks. The raids form part of a wider anti-drug operation in the region. Eleven of those arrested are Tanzanians, while the rest are Somalis, Nigerians, and nationals from the Great Lakes district who claim they fled from ethnic conflicts. One of the Tanzanians, identified only as Jacqueline, had previously been arrested on drug charges on three earlier occasions. Police also confiscated large quantities medicines stolen from hospitals and detained 30 other foreigners after they were unable to produce visas or other residency permits.

• The Star (16/01) reports that in the last three months of 1998 about 150 nurses tendered applications to leave South Africa to take up positions in foreign countries. A British based nursing placement agency, successfully placed more than 200 local nurses in positions in the UK last year and reports up to 30 inquiries per week. More and more South African nurses are selling their services in the international market for more lucrative compensation. The Britain-bound nurses were offered salaries up to R160,000 a year when they were recruited in November. It is a matter of seeking greener pastures," says Democratic Organisation of Nurses in South Africa deputy director in charge of industrial relations, Thembi Mngomezulu. "Our nurses are trained to the highest standards and can compete competently at an international level. Although South Africa now has one of the world’s most progressive constitutions and labor relations acts, nurses still need a balanced level of protection concerning employment security and working conditions".

• SAPA (Maputo 15/01) reports that the Maputo government wants urgent talks with Pretoria over the harsh treatment of Mozambican "illegal immigrants" in South Africa, a senior immigration officer said Friday. "Contacts are being made at all levels so that the issue is discussed and settled once for all," national director of immigration Miguel Chissano told AFP. Officials at the Mozambican border town of Ressano Garcia report that many of the hundreds of Mozambicans dumped there by South African trains each week show signs of having been assaulted and mauled by police dogs. They say the Mozambicans are not given time to collect their belongings when they are picked up on the streets or at their workplaces. Some of the deportees accuse white farmers of using them as illegal labour and then reporting them to police when the time comes to pay several months' worth of back wages. Chissano, who is President Joaquim Chissano's brother, said also that South Africa regularly dumps any "illegal African immigrants" into Mozambique. "We have come across several cases of non-Mozambican deportees in recent weeks", said Chissano. Chissano said all the non-Mozambicans, who are from countries such as Tanzania, Nigeria, Togo, Mali, Rwanda and Burundi, are immediately turned back so the South African authorities can repatriate them properly.

• SAPA (Durban 14/01) reports that about 956 "illegal immigrants" were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal during Operation Hotel from January 1 to 10, police spokesman Captain Vishnu Naidoo said on Thursday. The operation was conducted by the tracing unit together with the Department of Foreign Affairs. Naidoo said the immigrants were from Mozambique, Burundi, Swaziland, Somalia and Lesotho. Several passports, identity documents, permanent residential permits, 60kg of dagga and two firearms were recovered during the operation.

• SAPA-AP (Bangui 14/01) reports that fighting between government and rebel forces in northwestern Congo has driven up to 5,000 refugees into neighboring Central African Republic, the U.N. refugee agency said. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees also said it was checking reports that Congolese troops massacred up to 300 people in Zongo and nearby Libenge, 1,430 kms (650 miles) northeast of Congo's capital, Kinshasa. The refugees told aid workers in the capital of Bangui that advancing rebels and looting by government soldiers during the first week of January had forced them to flee Zongo, the agency said in a statement issued Wednesday in Geneva. In early December, clashes between rebels and government troops in northeastern Congo drove up to 3,000 Congolese Hutus into Uganda. The refugee agency later said 2,000 of the refugees had been forcibly repatriated by local Ugandan officials.

• The Tempo (Lagos 14/01) reports that a communications company runs an Italian language school for only females desirous of emigrating to Italy for commercial sex work. The ultimate goal is a sojourn in Italy. Curiously, the language school has no sign-post advertising its linguistic services and it is not coeducational as it admits only females. The admission requirement into the school is the ability to pay N40,000, about $500. This sum is the cost of learning the Italian language, learning how to deal with officious immigration officials at points of entry as well as comportment in Italy. It was also revealed that the school currently has about 50 women on its register. A top official of the institution confessed early in the week that business had not been easy because of what he called regular harassment by law enforcement agents. The official admitted that huge sums of money are regularly made available to the school management to pacify law enforcement agents. According to investigations, N350,000 was recently paid to the law enforcement agents for protection. An aspiring traveller to Italy is expected to produce evidence of sponsorship for the flight ticket as well as visa procurement for the trip. For an intending immigrant without any accommodation prospect, the language school provides accommodation in Italy. The girls are expected to work for months and pay for the services rendered by the language school that facilitated their passage to Italy. They could then become free agents after payment.

• Business Day (Johannesburg 13/01) reports that there has been an apparent increase of xenophobia since 1994, partially because of unfulfilled promises made before that year's election, according to research by the Centre for Policy Studies. Escalating unemployment and crime figures have led South Africans to believe that foreigners are "stealing" jobs and committing crime. However, the research says, there is nothing to suggest these trends can be linked to the increase in the number of foreigners living illegally in SA since 1994. In fact, high crime, mostly against foreigners, and unemployment has driven thousands of them out of the inner city of Johannesburg to rural areas. In rural areas the research found they could easily interact with locals and pursue their trades, mostly in unskilled labour fields such as construction. Most immigrants blamed government for xenophobia because some politicians regularly "accuse foreigners of being responsible for many of SA's social and economic ills". Most of these "illegal immigrants" had intentions of settling in SA permanently, but there was another class - migrant or temporary workers - that, despite risking their lives by entering the country illegally, have no intention to settle. Just like immigrants, migrant workers are lured into SA by employment opportunities and political stability. Although it is illegal to employ undocumented migrants, the research found that in co-operation with state officials, most employers had managed to avoid prosecution. But this renders migrants and "illegal" migrants more "attractive" to exploitation by black and white employers. This is also because their undocumented status and lack of valid identity documents hinders their participation in trade unions. Migrants are also often threatened with deportation when they demand their wages.

• SAPA (Pretoria 11/01) reports that South Africa denied dumping all illegal African aliens into Mozambique, saying set procedures were being followed to prevent that from happening. These procedures were approved by Mozambique, the Department of Home Affairs said in a statement. They required Mozambican immigration officials to make sure that aliens deported from South Africa were Mozambican nationals before being accepted. "If the Mozambican officials determine that the alien is not Mozambican, the alien is returned to the South African officials," the department said. "It is clear that a large number of nationals from other countries are not being dumped in Mozambique from South Africa." Mozambican police commander in the border town of Ressano Garcia, Simao Jonasse, was last week quoted as saying: "The South Africans continue to deport into our country individuals of various nationalities." The department on Monday said South African and Mozambican officials held regular talks on migration issues. "If there is or was indeed a problem, the matter would be discussed at such a forum," the statement said.

• The All Africa News Agency (11/01) reports that church leaders in Tanzania have warned the government to be careful on implementing the Refugees Bill of 1998, insisting that any human being has the right to immigrate from one place to another regarding the stability and instability threatening his or her life. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Peter Mwamasika urged the government to treat refugees with love and patience without enforcing tough laws over them. Instead, they need an environment which will assist them to remain peaceful in their camps. Dr. Mwamasika further explained that refugees like other human beings want food, shelter, clothes, medicines, education and other necessary needs including recreation. He emphasizes that those government, international agencies and organisations including churches have the responsibility to assist the refugees secure all the compulsory needs. Members of Parliament in Tanzania said at end of last year (1998) that some refugees forget their status and demand equal rights with citizens. Debating the Refugees Bill of 1998 the Kigoma Member of Parliament Dr. Amani Kabourou (coming from Kigoma Region bordering East DRC) said, "some refugees are bandits, selling firearms, drugs, terrorising and killing our innocent people," without mentioning the statistics. Dr. Kabourou says the refugees have plundered crops and have no concern for the environment. He wants the UNHCR to repair infrastructure extensively damaged by refugees in four regions of Tanzania. Tanzania hosts approximately one million refugees from Burundi, Rwanda and DRC.

• PANA (Maputo 11/01) reports that Mozambican Interior Minister Almerino Manhenje has expressed serious concern over the ill-treatment dispensed to Mozambicans described as "illegal immigrants" in South Africa. Manhenje particularly complained about the manner in which repatriation of "illegal" Mozambican immigrants in that country is conducted. Currently Mozambican deportees claim they are not allowed to collect their belongings, are beaten up, are mauled by police dogs, and are subject to other humiliating treatment. ''We are trying, once again, to clear this matter up with the South African Immigration services so that Mozambicans are treated in a dignified manner in that country,'' he said. Manhenje added: ''We are aware that some Mozambicans go to South Africa with bad intentions, but we also believe that there are others who go there with very good intentions, and this has been a tradition in the region.'' Manhenje noted that there were times when even those Mozambicans who went legally to South Africa were robbed and ill-treated, but joint work between the Mozambican and South African authorities should find a solution to this. One of the chief complaints against the way illegal Mozambican immigrants are treated in South Africa concerns the use of clandestine workforce by South African farmers. The farmers are said to employ them but when the time comes to pay wages, their employers denounce the Mozambicans as illegal immigrants, and they are simply rounded up and repatriated without receiving their money. The cycle is then repeated, thus ensuring a free source of labour for the farmers the majority of who are white.

• The Cape Times (10/01) reports that the necklacing of two foreign nationals in Ivory Park, near Midrand, was a "despicable act" which will never be tolerated, said home affairs Deputy Minister Lindiwe Sisulu-Guma. "As the department responsible for all foreigners in this country, we at Home Affairs are very concerned at the spiraling incidents of attacks on foreign nationals". She said her department together with the SA Police Service, was still trying to determine the nationality of the victims and the motive for the violent attack. "We will make sure the perpetrators face the full wrath of the law," she said. A team comprising of six police officers was appointed to investigate the mob killing of the two, thought to be Mozambicans, at the Ivory Park informal settlement in Midrand. The two were part of a group of six men who were kidnapped the very same week. The men were severely beaten before two of them were necklaced; burnt to death by having tires thrown over their necks, doused with gasoline, and set alight. Three others were seriously injured, and one escaped. The men were accused of rape, theft and terrorising residents.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 09/01) reports that the necklacing of two foreign nationals in Ivory Park, near Midrand, was a despicable act which should not be tolerated, Home Affairs deputy minister, Lindiwe Sisulu-Guma said on Saturday. "As the department responsible for all foreigners in this country, we in Home Affairs are very concerned at the seemingly spiralling incidents of attacks on foreign nationals," Sisulu-Guma said in a statement. She said her department together with the SA Police Service was striving to determine the nationality of the victims and the motive for the violent attack. A team comprising six police officers was appointed on Friday to investigate the mob killing of the two, thought to be Mozambicans, at the Ivory Park informal settlement in Midrand. The two were part of a group of six men who were kidnapped on Tuesday and held until the early hours of Wednesday by a group of vigilantes in the Goniwe section of Ivory Park. The men were severely beaten before two of them were necklaced - burnt to death by having a tyre thrown over their neck, doused with petrol, and set alight. Three were seriously injured, and one escaped. The men were accused of rape, theft and terrorising residents.

• SAPA (Gaborone 06/01) reports that more than 2000 Namibians who fled to Botswana, claiming they faced persecution by the Namibian government, will know within days if they will be given political asylum. The Namibian government alleged that they were linked to a group seeking the secession of the Caprivi Strip from Namibia. The leaders of the secessionist group were among the first to cross the border on October 30. "The committee which is interviewing the asylum seekers is expected to finish its work within three or four days," a Botswana government spokesman said on Wednesday. "A government decision is expected soon after." Botswana is sticking to the UNHCR’s convention on asylum seekers to which both it and Namibia are signatory, meaning the refugees will not be sent home against their will. "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," a government spokesman said when the influx started.

• PANA (Mozambique 06/01) reports that the government of Mozambique's Nampula province is preparing a campaign to curb the influx of "illegal immigrants" from other African countries in the province. Foreigners from countries as varied as Tanzania, Nigeria, Somalia, Guinea, Mali and the Great Lakes region were known to be involved in illicit activities in Nampula, according to Nampula Governor Rosario Mualeia. However, Rosario did not reveal the kind of measures the police were preparing on the grounds that this would hinder the security operation. Many of the "illegal aliens" were said to be involved in drug trafficking and were also said to be dangerous and violent, the Mozambique News Agency (AIM) reported. AIM added that the Mozambican police arrested a Tanzanian and a Malian in November in a suburb of Nampula city for dealing in heroin. The aliens were also said to be involved in robberies and murders in other towns such as Angoche and Nacala in Nampula.

• XINHUA (Johannesburg 06/01) reports that more than 1,900 Namibian refugees from the Caprivi Strip have crossed the border into neighboring Botswana since last October, reports from Gaborone said Wednesday. The Namibian refugees, who claimed they were fleeing political persecution by their government, were arriving almost daily, although the flow had diminished since last year, local media quoted Botswana Police Service as reporting. However, the Namibian government accused the so-called refugees of being involved in a movement plotting the secession of the Caprivi Strip from Namibia. An unidentified Botswana police spokesman said that apart from the initial group of Namibians, who were charged with illegal entry and unlawful possession of arms and ammunition, most new arrivals have not been charged with any crime. He said the current intake had not been budgeted for at the Dukwe refugee camp, which has catered for up to 50,000 refugees in the past. The Botswana Refugee Advisory Committee, which was reportedly interviewing the illegal Namibian immigrants, would make a final decision on whether to grant asylum status to them, Botswana officials said. Earlier, the Botswanan government and the UNHCR said the Namibian secessionists would be returned to their homeland only on a voluntary basis. Meanwhile, Namibian authorities said they would take a tough line with the alleged secessionists.

• SAPA (Harare 06/01) reports that South African employers will by now have heard the usual run of unlikely excuses from workers returning late to work after the festive season, but it will take a lot to beat those offered by Zimbabweans who work illegally on the border near Messina. Hundreds of them were on Wednesday stretched along banks of the Limpopo river, waiting for the swollen waters to subside. They cannot cross at the border post at Beitbridge because they are "illegal immigrants". Their normal route is a walk across the river bed, usually no more than a series of isolated pools at this time of the year, and risk a walk through the Kruger National Park to reach the farms and businesses they work at illegally on the South African side. But heavy rain has turned the river into a raging torrent. There are unconfirmed reports that two have drowned trying to cross. Almon Sibanda of the Beitbridge district council said hundreds had already arrived by bus and gone to their usual crossing points. "We warned them not to gamble, the river is very full," he told The Herald. He said one of the "illegal immigrants" told the council that he and two friends tried to cross. He failed and struggled back to the Zimbabwean bank, but said his two friends were missing. Police said they had not received any report that the men were swept away.

• SAPA-AFP (Geneva 05/01) reports that continued fighting in the DRC has sparked a new exodus of refugees to neighbouring countries, the UN High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) said Tuesday. Since Saturday, some 5,000 "terrified" Congolese refugees have fled Zongo in northwestern DRC and entered the Central African Republic (CAR), UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said. "The refugees said they fled after gunfire erupted in and around the town of Zongo and they feared it was about to fall in rebel hands," he said. Kinshasa has used the CAR capital Bangui, across the river from Zongo, as a stepping stone to reinforce its forces inside the DRC in its ongoing conflict with the rebels, who are supported by Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. "UNHCR staff in Bangui could clearly hear the sound of gunfire coming from the other side of the river," Janowski said. In Uganda, there have been almost 3,000 new arrivals, mainly of women and children, according to the UNHCR. In the last few months, some 18,000 Congolese refugees have poured into Tanzania, 6,000 into CAR and about the same number to Uganda due to the fighting between rebels and government troops, which are backed by Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Chad.

• SAPA-AFP (Maputo 05/01) reports that Mozambique on Tuesday accused neighbouring South Africa of regularly dumping any "illegal African immigrants" into their country. "The South Africans continue to deport into our country individuals of various African nationalities," Simao Jonasse, police commander in the border town of Ressano Garcia, charged. Jonasse said hundreds of deportees, including Mozambicans, are sent to Mozambique in large groups by train on a weekly basis together with their Mozambican counterparts. Many of the deportees show signs of serious physical aggression, the officer said. The police officer said many are picked up from South African streets, workplaces, mainly white-run farms and shops and are not given time to collect their belongings. Analysts are of the opinion that "illegal immigrants" picked up by police in South Africa claim to come from Mozambique from where they can easily cross back after deportation.

• SAPA (05/01) reports that Mozambique on Tuesday accused neighbouring South Africa of regularly dumping any "illegal African immigrants" into their country. "The South Africans continue to deport into our country individuals of various African nationalities," Simao Jonasse, police commander in the border town of Ressano Garcia, charged. Jonasse said hundreds of deportees, including Mozambicans, are sent to Mozambique in large groups by train on a weekly basis together with their Mozambican counterparts. Many of the deportees show signs of serious physical aggression, the officer said. The police officer said many are picked up from South African streets, workplaces, mainly white-run farms and shops and are not given time to collect their belongings. Analysts are of the opinion that "illegal immigrants" picked up by police in South Africa claim to come from Mozambique from where they can easily cross back after deportation.

Updated June 07, 1999