Migration News - January 2000

January 2000

• Sapa-AFP (Johannesburg 01/30) reports that a South African court ordered the release of two Iraqi stowaways from an Italian oil tanker. The men had been on board for 5 months after fleeing military service. Immigration officials were also ordered to assist them in applying for refugee status and asylum in South Africa. The two men had tried to leave the ship at Durban in December but were shackled in leg-irons in front of South African immigration officials. The tanker then left for the Ivory Coast. When the ship docked again at Durban, the Durban Refugee Forum, a group which assists refugees, urged the court to order the men’s release.

• Reuters (Lusaka 01/27) reports that the UNHCR criticised the SADC on Wednesday for not accepting refugees from outside its region - most SADC countries ban refugees from West Africa and the Horn of Africa. According to UNHCR Southern Africa Director Nicolas Bwakira, "There is a tendency within the SADC of not accepting refugees from outside the region. That is unacceptable." He also criticised unnamed SADC countries that keep refugees within the confines of refugees camps, preventing them from earning a living. An exception within the SADC regarding the treatment of refugees is Zambia, which hosts 216,783 refugees, many of which are from non-SADC countries such as Rwanda and Burundi. Zambia has permanent refugee settlements where refugees have tracts of land to till. While countries such as Kenya and Tanzania also host thousands of refugees, they restrict them to camps and treat movement out of those areas as a criminal offence. Without giving details, Bwakira said the UNHCR was working with the SADC to deal with the problem.

• Sapa-AFP (Lusaka 01/26) reports that Zambia currently hosts more than 200,000 refugees because two of its neighbours are embroiled in civil war. Approximately 170,000 are from Angola and are accommodated at four different sites - although it is estimated that 120,000 have settled spontaneously throughout Zambia. Another 38,000 are from the DRC and are mostly at Mwange camp near Zambia’s northern border. The Zambian government recently appealed to the international community for assistance in dealing with the continuing influx of refugees, saying that the refugee crisis was becoming a strain on the nation’s economy. The UNHCR had budgeted 6.1 million dollars for refugees in Zambia this year, but recently announced it was increasing its budget by 2.5 million dollars.

• Sapa-AFP (Lusaka 01/25) reports that UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata announced on Tuesday that the UNHCR has allocated another 2.5 million dollars in addition to the original budget of 6.1 million dollars for Angolan refugees in Zambia. The announcement was made after Ogata met with western and African diplomats in Lusaka, seeking material aid for refugees. Earlier on Tuesday, Zambian Vice President appealed to the international community for help in dealing with the increasing numbers of refugees in Zambia, currently at over 200,000, saying that the crisis was straining the Zambian economy.

• Pretoria News (01/19) reports that forty lecturers at Technikon Northern Gauteng might be deported after police investigated the employment of "illegal" immigrants at the school. Two lecturers have arrested for working without valid permits -one of which is awaiting repatriation - and officials at the school are being investigated for aiding and abetting "illegal aliens." The technikon stated that the school is desperate for qualified staff and that employing lecturers without valid permits was "an administrative oversight."

• PANA (Maputo 01/14) reports that Mozambique and Swaziland have agreed upon repatriation procedures that would avoid "surprise repatriation of illegal immigrants" until the adoption of a formal legal instrument on this matter. The two countries agreed that joint monitoring of repatriation operations and strengthened communications were necessary and that consular officials must be notified in advance whenever repatriation is pending. They also called for a revision of the agreement allowing residents of border areas to cross the border without entry visas - it was stated this is necessary since many non-border area residents are abusing this privilege and are moving beyond the 20-km radius on either side of the border. The agreement was made at a meeting of the Mozambique/Swaziland Sub-Committee on Defence, Security and Immigration, called following the mass deportations in December 1999 of Mozambicans living in Swaziland without any prior notice given to Maputo.

• SAPA (Pretoria 01/14) reports that the Department of Home Affairs denies allegations that it has created a haven for Nigerian drug dealers in South Africa. The department stated that, contrary to recent reports, it does not readily grant asylum to Nigerians and that out of 5,068 recent applications by Nigerians for asylum, only 4 were approved. Out of 17,325 applications for asylum awaiting decisions, only 2,024 are by Nigerians. Billy Masetlha, Home Affairs Director-General, also stated that it "would also be unfair to label all Nigerians as drug dealers."

• African Eye News Service (Nelspruit 01/11) reports that the region surrounding Nelspruit has a large population of "illegal" Mozambicans who, despite the end of the Mozambique’s civil war, prefer to stay in South Africa than return home. Mozambicans living "illegally" in South Africa can qualify for citizenship if they can prove they have been in South Africa for the past 15 years. Those that do not qualify accept low wages, or no wages at all, for fear of deportation. Some have been promised help in obtaining South African identity documents by employers. One Mozambican woman says she obtained South African citizenship after paying a R450 bribe to a Home Affairs official.

• Sapa-AFP (Geneva 01/11) reports that over 7,500 people have fled fighting in Angola and crossed the border into Zambia since January 1. According to a UNHCR spokesperson, the refugees arrived in Zambia on foot and in poor health, suffering from diarrhoea, malaria, skin diseases and gunshot wounds. The UNHCR is opening a transit centre in Sijembela for the transfer of refugees to Mayukwayukwa camp which already houses 6,000 refugees.

• Sapa-AFP (Windhoek 01/10) reports that Namibian police have admitted to shooting and killing a six-year-old Angolan refugee when it fired upon a group they believed to be UNITA rebels. The police fired about 200 shots at a group of about 30 refugees on Monday morning in the Rundu area, close to the Nambia/Angola border. The refugees had fled fighting between UNITA and government forces in Angola but fighting has spilled into Namibia since its government has allowed Angolan forces to use "its territory as a springboard for attacks on rebel camps in Southern Angola."

• Sapa (Pretoria 01/10) reports that South Africa’s population is estimated to reach 44,7 million this year, according to a report published by the Bureau of Market Research at the University of South Africa. Many factors affecting population were cited by the report, including the number of South Africans leaving the country and unregistered foreigners in South Africa.

• Pretoria News (01/06) reports that West Rand police arrested 4,737 people, including 1,159 suspected "illegal immigrants", between December 1^st and January 5^th. The arrests were made over the course of 35,000 vehicle searches and 70,000 body searches.

• Sapa (Johannesburg 01/05) reports that former Zairean Prime Minister and Defence Minster N’Guza Karl-I-Bond has filed a court application to prevent his deportation from South Africa. Karl-I-Bond entered South Africa on a 3-month visitor’s permit and has since applied for numerous extensions which have all been refused. According to Karl-I-Bond, he may face persecution if returned to his country, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has asked the court to set aside the Home Affairs Department’s decision regarding his deportation and for access to all documents regarding that decision and information about him obtained by the National Intelligence Agency.

• Pana and Sapa-AFP (Harare 01/04) reports that 35,418 Zimbabweans who had "illegally emigrated" to South Africa were deported in 1999, a record for the decade. By comparison, South Africa deported about 19,000 Zimbabweans in 1998. According to Pana, "thousands of Zimbabweans, mostly young school leavers, illegally enter South Africa every month to look for jobs" and that the unemployment rate in Zimbabwe is about 50%. The high unemployment rate in South Africa was noted as the reason for the clampdown on "illegal immigrants".

Updated January 29, 2000