D-day for illegal Zimbabweans

Aug 1, 2011 | Charl du Plessis |

THOUSANDS of Zimbabweans are in the dark as to their status in South Africa, with the official moratorium on deportations having expired yesterday and with no indication by government as to whether the deadline will be extended

Although NGO's claim the department of Home Affairs has given indications that the moratorium may be extended until the end of this month, no official announcement to this effect has yet been made.
At a press briefing last week, Home Affairs Deputy Director-General Jackie Mckay said the department would conclude adjudicating permit applications by yesterday.
The stakes are high - while the department has registered 275,762 applications, NGO's estimate there are as many as a million undocumented Zimbabweans in the country.
This means thousands could be deported back to Zimbabwe, where the political situation is now less stable than it was when President Jacob Zuma's Cabinet announced an end to the special dispensation for Zimbabweans in September.
Tara Polzer-Ngwato, a senior researcher at Wits' African Centre for Migration and Society, said that "one of the things we are hearing out of Zimbabwe is political mobilisation".
Polzer-Ngwato said: "It is possible that people who will be deported from South Africa might be seen as opposition supporters and in danger of persecution."
She also said the possibility of deportation would create insecurity among Zimbabweans that could have a significant effect on South Africa.
Braam Hanekom, of the People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty, said he was "disappointed" that no announcement of an extension had been made, because the silence "was causing a lot of paranoia among Zimbabweans".
He said undocumented Zimbabweans became more vulnerable to crime, as corrupt police officers have in the past solicited bribes from them. They were also less likely to report crimes against them, such as rape, for fear of being deported.
Mckay said the department had received 275762 applications, issued 133810 permits while a further 2248 applications were still pending.
Mckay criticised the media's "fixation" with deportation, saying the process was about regularising the stay of foreign nationals in South Africa and that no mass deportations were planned.
"But anyone who is found in South Africa without legal documentation will be deported," she said.
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/08/01/d-day-for-illegal-zimbabweans