Migration News - May 1999

May 1999

• SAPA-AP (Luanda 31/05) reports that more than a dozen boys are living underground on Antonio Barroso Street, just a handful of the estimated 5,000 children in the city left homeless by Angola's civil war. A 12-year-old who says his name is Fender has lived underground for three years. He says he enjoys the freedom of his life on the streets but is reluctant to give details of what he does all day. "We go out for walks around town seeing what we can find to eat," he said. Although Luanda is heavily protected by the army and removed from battles raging in the countryside between government troops and UNITA rebels, the children are still victims of the fighting. Aid workers say parents who see the conflict headed their way send their children on the last flights to the rundown coastal capital in hopes of saving them. But the city of several million people is often "the end of the line" for the children, aid workers say. Unless they can find family or are picked up by social institutions, they must fend for themselves in a city already overburdened by tens of thousands of people displaced by the war. The children grow up in filthy, garbage-strewn streets rarely visited by refuse trucks. They spend their time looking for scraps to eat or hustling for change. Public reaction to the homeless children ranges from complaints that they are delinquents to the charitable exchange of food for small chores.

• PANA (Maputo 27/05) reports that Mozambican and Swazi foreign and immigration officials are set to meet soon to discuss the violation by Swaziland of a bilateral agreement specifically concerning the repatriation of alleged “illegal immigrants.” The Mozambique News Agency reported that Mbabane broke this agreement recently when it repatriated 300 Mozambicans without giving notice to the Mozambican authorities. It said the Mozambican Foreign Ministry had initially proposed that the meeting take place on Wednesday or Thursday this week. But this proved impossible since the Swazi Foreign Minister is accompanying King Mswati III on a trip abroad. The Mozambican authorities reacted strongly to the arrest, summary trial and deportation of the 300 Mozambicans in Swaziland for alleged “illegal immigration” because the agreed terms were not respected. The Mozambican Foreign Ministry sent a letter to its Swazi counterpart, through the Swazi High Commissioner in Maputo, Harry Mabuza, requesting a meeting.

• Cape Times (26/05) reports that South Africans of all colours and persuasions – but mostly whites – continue to pour into Australia and then go to carve out for themselves positions of respect, prominence and wealth. The Australian government believes that from 1990 to 1997, 18,320 South Africans took up residency. That’s an average of 2,290 a year, ranging from 1,000 in 1993 to 3,710 in 1997. These numbers take no account of the steady drift in emigration from South Africa, which began in the late 1970s and accelerated through the 1980s. And, as it turns out, 1998 proved a bonanza year for Australia – it has harvested another 4,770 of South Africa’s brightest and best. Why do so many South Africans see Australia as the natural repository of their dream? The truth is, many South African immigrants to Australia do reasonably well, but are not rich. Most are lawyers, accountants and professionals who would expect to earn high in the middle income range. In any event, it is well proven that most immigrants tend to outperform wherever they end up – they are driven by the urgent need to succeed.

• SAPA (Gaborone 25/05) reports that the first group of about 2,500 Namibian refugees have begun returning home from Botswana after the signing of an agreement on Monday that granted them exemption from prosecution. The tripartite agreement was signed by Namibian Minister of Home Affairs Jerry Ekandjo, Botswana's acting Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Joy Phumaphi and head of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees regional office for Southern Africa Mengesha Kebede. "Repatriation is the most desirable solution and the agreement creates the necessary conditions for the realisation of this important goal," Kebede said in a UNHCR statement. The refugees have been in Botswana since October last year. Citing fears of prosecution, they fled the north-east Namibian province of Caprivi and sought asylum in Botswana, which they were granted by the government. They were pushing for the Caprivi to secede from Namibia. The agreement gives all returning refugees a general amnesty. It states the refugees are free to return to their homes without any fear of being subjected to arrest, persecution, detention, imprisonment, harassment, or any other penal or administrative procedure for having left as refugees. Sixty-one refugees left Dukwe refugee settlement for Namibia on Monday aboard buses provided by UNHCR. At Kasane border post they would be met by Namibian government officials and UNHCR staff and the Namibian government would then provide transport to their final destination.

• Melvis Dzisah reports for PANA (Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire 20/05) that the authorities in Cote d'Ivoire are worried about what they describe as the high foreigner presence in the country. "The tolerable threshold has been surpassed, calling for urgent measures to prevent a major foreigner invasion," the Economic and Social Council said in a report titled "Immigration In Cote d'Ivoire." The council, which has as its members eminent personalities from diverse walks of life, is the government's think tank on socio-economic issues. According to the report, described as top secret but leaked to the local press, foreigners have contributed an "alarming" proportion of the total population since the first general census in 1965. "From 17.5 percent of the total population in 1965, it went up to 22 percent in 1975, 28 percent in 1968 and stabilised at 26 percent in 1993," it said. "It is no doubt that the 1998 census has revealed a more defiant and breathtaking figures concerning the progress of immigration in our country." The report recommended that adequate dispositions should be undertaken so that "we are not invaded by strangers. It is not xenophobia. It is a question of national protection" the report said.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 19/05) reports that the SA Human Rights Commission has taken an unemployment lobby group to task, accusing it of xenophobia and saying it is associated with criminal actions. In a letter to the Democratic Party-aligned Unemployed Masses of SA, released to the media on Wednesday, SAHRC chairman Barney Pityana warned the group that whipping up emotions against foreigners would not reduce unemployment. Pityana said he believed UMSA supporters were responsible for the murder of two Senegalese and one Mozambican in September last year. Pityana said UMSA's action against the SAHRC appeared to have been triggered by the commission's national campaign against xenophobia, "Roll Back Xenophobia". The SAHRC was examining the root causes of xenophobia and the relationship between "illegal immigration" and unemployment. "What will not help is to whip up emotions against immigrants in our country who are making a decent living, are hardworking and contributing to the economy of our country. There is certainly no justification for blaming the commission for the plight of your members," Pityana told the organisation. He also challenged the organisation to explain to the SAHRC the reasons why its members were unemployed. "Once we examine the causes of unemployment, it will be discovered that the reasons for unemployment are not always honourable," he said. UMSA's policy research analyst, Richard Pillay, denied that his organisation's leadership condoned violence. "We don't have a problem with immigrants who come into the country but the problem is the government and the Human Rights Commission are vigorously defending them," said Pillay.

• SAPA (Komatipoort 18/05) reports that New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said that South African taxpayers coughed up at least R1,25 billion every year to provide "illegal aliens" with basic services such as schooling, water and medical care. Millions more were spent on repatriating those caught, with further losses incurred by the aliens' contribution to the spread of HIV, job losses and criminality. During a visit to Komatipoort near the border between South Africa and Mozambique, Van Schalkwyk told reporters this money could have been used to build at least 40,000 houses or 14,000 classrooms. "Illegal immigration is a problem that places a huge burden on the poor, the unemployed and each and every taxpayer." Undocumented migrants in South Africa were thought to number anything between 2.5 million and eight million - about one fifth of the population. In 1994, 27% of those sent back to their home countries had been apprehended for serious crimes. Colonel Hein Visser, officer commanding of Group 33 based in Nelspruit, said nearly 30,000 immigrants were arrested trying to cross the border between Komatipoort and Josefsdal last year. Group 33 is responsible for border control over one third of the 710km border separating Mpumalanga from Mozambique and Swaziland. The NNP's proposed solutions included heavy fines to those employing illegal aliens, eliminating fraud, corruption and bribery at border posts, and improving the capacity of the police and intelligence units to identify illegal immigration hot spots.

• The Star (15/05) reports that many migrants to South Africa from neighbouring countries - both undocumented and legal - don’t plan to make this country their home. The finding of research just completed by the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) provides a very different profile of African immigration from the stereotypical image of the impoverished, illiterate and parasitic alien. The majority of immigrants interviewed by SAMP came from South Africa’s closest neighbours – Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and most of them see South Africa as a better country in terms of job opportunities, but they still have strong links with their home country and said they did not intend to settle here. Respondents said they would rather raise a family in their home country, where there is access to basic resources and where freedom, peace and democracy are deemed to be good or better than in South Africa. In a sample, 88% said they planned to stay for only six months and few migrants have considered settling in South Africa permanently because they have responsibilities in their home country. In the survey, 90% said they owned a house in their home country, 42% were either the head of the household or spouse of the head, and 49% were either married or cohabiting. While 50% traveled home at least once a year, migrants made more frequent trips from neighbouring countries. Respondents showed that 77% of Zimbabweans, 86% of Mozambicans and 89% of the Basotho said they traveled home at least once or twice per year, while only 23% of Ivorians, 10% of Nigerians and 6% of the Senegalese traveled home at least once a year.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 14/05) reports that Public Protector Selby Baqwa is to widen his investigation into "illegal immigration" practices to include Public Service and Administration director-general Dr Paseka Ncholo. Ncholo allegedly intervened when police raided his Babsfontein farm, near Johannesburg in October last year, arresting 21 "illegal immigrants" from Mozambique. Ncholo told SABC that the Mozambicans were there because of a "special dispensation" that the Department of Home Affairs had granted to all farm labourers. The "dispensation" expired on January 31 this year. Police had told Ncholo they would release the immigrants only with the approval of the department of home affairs. Baqwa said this was not the way things were done because it nullified all immigration laws of the country. He said he would like to know what role embattled home affairs director-general Albert Mokoena played, if any, in their release.

• SAPA-AFP (Gaborone 12/05) reports that Botswana has granted political asylum to another 1,101 Namibians who fled their homes claiming persecution, a spokesman for President Festus Mogae said Wednesday. "We granted 1,101 Namibians political asylum yesterday," presidential spokesman Ross Samoto told AFP. Botswana has now given asylum to 2,232 Namibians who fled Caprivi after Namibian security forces began cracking down on a separatist movement in the narrow province. Some 2,400 Namibians have crossed into Botswana since late October; the bulk of them claim they have nothing to do with the separatist cause and were forced to leave after being persecuted in the crack-down. Samoto said the status of another 92 Namibians who have applied for asylum was uncertain as they faced charges of illegally entering the country and carrying weapons of war. "The 92 people's status will be determined after the refugee advisory committee has made recommendations," he said. "Criminal charges against them have not yet been withdrawn." The committee includes officials from the Botswana government and the UNHCR. Botswana has urged those to whom it granted asylum to return to their home country but said it would not force them back. Namibian President Sam Nujoma has promised that people not involved with the secessionist movement would not be prosecuted but has warned that any secessionists would be tried for treason.

• SAPA (East London 10/05) reports that Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin on Monday called on business to work together with government to curb the influx of "illegal immigrants" into South Africa. Addressing a joint meeting of the Eastern Cape Technikon and the Border-Kei Chamber of Business, Erwin said South Africa was involved in intense dialogue with its neighbours to overcome the problem. The improved economies of neighbouring countries would also have a dramatic impact on employment in those areas, he said. It would take some time to curb the influx of "illegal" workers in the informal sector, Erwin said. "Most economies which show growth have the same problem." Short-term solutions included tightening up border controls and coordination between security services. His department, through a customs task team, had done much to restrict illegal imports into the country, Erwin said. The task team processed, channeled and reported all illegal imports to his department and the Reserve Bank.

• SAPA (Pretoria 06/05) reports that a Pretoria High Court judge on Thursday gave Department of Home Affairs officials further time to explain why they should not be found guilty of contempt of court, following the summary deportation of a British woman earlier this year. Esmee Sargeant, a former financial manager at the Alexandra Health Clinic in Johannesburg, in January obtained an urgent Pretoria High Court interdict to be returned to South Africa. Sargeant was summarily thrown into the back of a police van, taken to the airport and deported, despite a request that she first wanted to make representations to the Minister of Home Affairs and wanted to approach the high court for a review of the cancellation of her work permit. Judge SJ Mynhardt at the time ordered the department to pay for Sargeant's return to South Africa and ordered certain officials to file affidavits to explain why she was treated in such a manner. On Thursday, Judge BR du Plessis said he was not satisfied with the explanation the concerned officials gave and wanted to know why she was dealt with in such a summary manner, who gave the instructions ordering her to leave the country immediately and why this was done. "I can't understand why a guest should be treated like this in South Africa ... It seems to me that this was maybe not right to treat this particular lady like an illegal alien. She could have been given a little time to pursue her options," Du Plessis said. Sargeant has meanwhile received a letter from the Minister of Home Affairs, stating that her work permit had been reinstated until August 28. She however chose to return to London because she felt disillusioned with South African authorities.

• Selby Makgotho repots for the African Eye News Service (Pietersburg 03/05) that "illegal immigrants" trying to sneak into the Northern Province may soon find themselves up against German style security measures after provincial police called in border control experts from the state of Saxony. Provincial safety and security MEC, Seth Nthai, said on Monday that the province signed a cooperation agreement with Saxony to tap into its expertise at controlling "illegal immigrants" to Germany from Poland and the Czech Republic. "Germany is also plagued by thousands of illegal immigrants from neighbouring poorer countries who try to sneak in to enjoy the benefits of a strong economy. They have much they can teach South Africa about border control," said Nthai. Northern Province immigration head, Des Venter, said on Monday that over 40 000 "illegal immigrants" had already been arrested in the area since January 1999. Slightly over 90% of the immigrants were Zimbabwean, he said. Venter added that the province was also forced to repatriate 176 351 "illegal immigrants" to Mozambique, Zimbabwe or Lesotho in 1998. The government charges "illegal immigrants" R300 each to cover transport and accommodation costs but was able to collect only R100 000 from those caught in the province since September last year, he said.

Updated July 23, 1999