Outcry by activism groups as Zimbabweans in SA face deportation
By Alex Bell
24 July 2008

As members of Zimbabwe’s political elite finally sat down for talks in South Africa on Thursday, many of their fellow citizens who sought refuge in the country are facing deportation back to the homes they fled as a result of political violence.

Hundreds of immigrants, including a vast number of Zimbabweans were forcibly removed from the Glenada refugee centre in Johannesburg on Tuesday, after failing to meet Monday’s deadline to register for temporary South African ID cards. The group was sheltering at the camp after a spate of xenophobic violence swept through the country earlier this year, leaving more than 60 foreign nationals dead and tens of thousands displaced.

The temporary ID cards were set up as a precautionary measure by South Africa’s Home Affairs department to allow victims of the xenophobic violence another 6 months stay in the country – with warnings that deportations would be the next measure if people failed to register.

But the registration process at the Glenada shelter was interrupted last Wednesday by an outbreak of violence when four men, believed to be security guards, were held hostage by the camp's residents. 23 foreigners were injured after the police, called in to diffuse the situation, fired rounds of rubber bullets at protesting refugees. 700 foreigners were forcibly removed from the shelter on Tuesday and taken to a repatriation centre where they are facing deportation.

Anna Moyo from the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum told Newsreel on Thursday that many refugees have not registered because they feel “they cannot trust the South African government to deliver after 6 months in getting them permanent status”. She added that some of the foreigners already hold asylum seeker cards and refugee status and were afraid “the ID cards would force them to forfeit that status”.

Amnesty International has now accused the South African Government of violating its obligations under international law and has called for a full investigation into what it has called “excessive force” by the police who orchestrated Tuesday’s mass removal. The organisation also condemned the way officials had “denied access to adequate food” to those who failed to go through the registration process at Glenada. It also called on the government to uphold its human rights obligations and not forcibly return asylum seekers, and others in need of international protection, to the countries they had fled.

The Zimbabwe Refugees Forum has also condemned the removal of the refugees from the Glenada shelter and the South African’s government’s treatment of xenophobic attack victims. The forum has now appealed to Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to immediately halt the deportation of Zimbabweans and other victims of the attacks.

Moyo said the government has previously established a moratorium on deportations and the deporting of foreigners, particularly Zimbabweans, would not only be “contrary to what has previously been declared” but also “in violation of the constitution and the country’s refugee laws”.

Meanwhile as the outcry over the treatment of the refugees continues, a recent survey done by South Africa’s TNS Research Survey group revealed on Thursday that the majority of South Africans do not want refugees in the country. The views of two thousand South African adults from across the country were recorded last month about President Thabo Mbeki’s role as mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis and the impact it has had on South African life. The question of whether Zimbabweans should be allowed to stay in the country was also posed, but almost three out of every four respondents felt they should not, while only 29 percent said they should.

Moyo said the survey is clearly reflective of “the situation on the ground where South Africans feel foreigners are imposing on their own rights”. She added that “when the government is deporting foreign nationals it is echoing the sentiments of many South Africans”.