Is Home Affairs cultivating xenophobia?

2010 08 05  The Star

W HEN we wake up to tempera­tures of -13°C in the south-east Free State it's hard to believe that anywhere in South Africa could possibly be colder. But the tiny Eastern Cape dorp of Molteno claims the lowest officially recorded temperatures. Those records were not an isolated blip - the mountainous Stormberg area is consistently so cold in winter that even hardy Nguni cattle do not thrive there. Unexpectedly, since farming communi­ties are famed for their hospitality, the weather has not been the only coldness experienced by Zimbabwean teacher Zwelani Ncube. A qualified English language teacher, he applied for a job advertised in October 2007, and was appointed to teach English at Molteno High School. Since then, however, Ncube has had noth­ing but the cold shoulder from officials of the Department of Home Affairs in his efforts to get a work permit. In fact, Judge Elna Revelas, who handed down a decision concerning Ncube last week, fornied the view that two officials in the Queenstown office did everything they could "at every possible opportunity" and on "personal and irrational considerations" to thwart Ncube. His problems began the day the school handed over the documents needed for Ncube's work permit application. His passport was confiscated there and then, and he was informed that he did not qualify because he had not submitted cer­tain documents - even though these were not on the list of documents required by the department. That was just the start. The two officials fingered by the court for irrational and even "malevolent" behaviour later went to the school and charged both the school and Ncube, whom they arrested. The principal and Ncube later informed the Molteno prosecutor they would defend the charges - but they were withdrawn "on the grounds that no transgressions of law had occurred". The prosecutor even wrote a letter con-firming the decision to withdraw charges, but Home Affairs officials refused to accept it and told Ncube that no work permit would be issued "until he could provide Home Affairs with the reasons for the with­drawal of the criminal charges againsthim". Novel grounds indeed for refusing a permit. When the school organised a meeting with the prosecutor, the principal, the sec­retary and a Home Affairs official, the offi­cial concerned lost his temper and insisted that both the school and Ncube pay a fine of R2 400. But when they tried to do so the police refused to accept the money, saying the charges had been withdrawn. In the months that followed, Ncube was repeatedly harassed: officials did not answer correspondence or return calls and repeatedly obliged him to travel to their offices only to send him away empty-handed. They constantly raised the question of the withdrawn charges, demanding that he explain why the charges were not pursued, and threatened him with deportation. As Judge Revelas put it, he was subjected to "continued unfair treatment" carried out in an "irrational and malevolent manner". Officials also threatened Ncube that he would "suffer" for having sought help from the Legal Resources Centre. An intricate set of legal challenges fol­lowed with applications in the Graham­stown High Court and a petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal. The school proved the post had indeed been properly advertised. Perhaps word of winter temperatures has spread, but just three applications were received - only one from a South African, and that application "was so poorly presented that it could not be seriously considered", as the court put it. Commenting on evidence showing that the school had complied with all the required steps, Judge Revelas noted that while South Africans should be preferred this did not mean that "any South African even lacking suitable qualifications should-be appointed". The end result has been that a full bench of the Grahamstown High Court has now ruled in favour of Ncube and the Molteno school, with Home Affairs officials, from the minister down to the Queenstown office, ordered to pay all the costs. As I read her judgment, I had to wonder whether the Department of Home Affairs isn't a breeding ground for xenophobia. What other explanation for how those two officials were allowed to devise and carry out a campaign of irrational, mali­cious actions against a foreigner - and get away with it?

  http://www.lrc.org.za/press-releases/1150-2009-10-21-mr-ncubes-battle-against-home-affairs-comes-to-an-end