The department has met with representatives from civil society and
international organizations such as the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to discuss implementing a new
temporary residence permit. However, the need to secure additional
funding, staff and information management systems means no formal
timeline has been set.
The permit will grant thousands of Zimbabweans the right to live and
work in South Africa, and access healthcare and education for an
initial period of at least six months. The mass deportation of
undocumented migrants may be halted.
South Africa has never formally addressed the influx of tens of
thousands Zimbabweans over its northern border, and standard
immigration measures left many undocumented, so seeking asylum has
often been the only way for them to regularize their status.
Zimbabwe's economic collapse and political crisis is a decade old, but until
2004 many Zimbabweans were barred from applying for asylum. According
to the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA),
they form the bulk of applications, creating a backlog of almost 90,000
in 2007.
Up to 80 percent of these applications are rejected on the basis that
the applicants do not meet the requirements of the Refugee Act, Home
Affairs spokesperson Siobhan McCarthy told IRIN.
As it currently stands, the Immigration Act does not accommodate
economic migrants. Given the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, it was agreed
that the government cannot continue to send Zimbabweans who do not
qualify for refugee status, or any other permit, back home.
First step
The idea of such a permit as a solution to the large number of asylum
seekers is not new. Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula first
mentioned it in 2007, and civil society and international
organisations, including CoRMSA, UNHCR and the Forced Migration Studies
programme at South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand have been
advocating it for years.
Section 31 of the Immigration Act allows the minister to grant
permanent residence to a category of foreigners for a specified period,
under special circumstances. According to the Organisation for African
Unity convention, similar provisions granting certain groups temporary
refugee status have been a common response to large-scale migration on
the continent.
In some ways seems like exactly the wrong time [but] my guess is that
the minister wants some kind of legacy around this issue, realizing
that they haven't dealt with it in the past We are extremely pleased,
said Sanda Kimbimbi, UNHCR's representative for Southern Africa. It is
acknowledging the fact that movement is taking place, and instead of
using control measures, it is better to try to manage it. It is the
beginning of the migration management of a large number of people
coming into the country, and for good reason.
There are widespread misperceptions in South Africa about foreigners'
contribution to crime and unemployment, and such a policy change could be a political hot potato in an election year.
We're a little bemused by the timing of it, said Loren Landau,
director of the Forced Migration Studies Programme, which has long
advocated the permit.
In some ways seems like exactly the wrong time [but] my guess is
that the minister wants some kind of legacy around this issue,
realizing that they haven't dealt with it in the past.
The permits may usher in change that many think is long overdue.
There's not really been a specific policy on immigration from
Zimbabwe, but I think there's been a realization that there are
different needs among migrants,
said CoRMSA spokesperson Duncan Breen.
When you apply for asylum, you're technically were not supposed to go
back to Zimbabwe, but I think people have realized that people need to
go back to Zimbabwe, either with goods or money – remittances are
largely what appear to be keeping the country afloat.
Arrest, detain, deport
South Africa's approach has been largely one of arrest, detain,
deport, in which undocumented individuals were arrested by the police
and detained in repatriation centres before being deported at state
expense.
A paper published in 2008 by the Centre for Development and Enterprise
(CDE) noted that the absence of an official response to Zimbabwean
migration stemmed partly from a lack of data on the number of people
entering the country, and partly from political sensitivities over
South Africa's official stance on the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, chief mediator between Zimbabwe'
s fiercely opposed political parties, drew sharp criticism when he
refused to admit there was a crisis in Zimbabwe, despite figures from
the International Organisation for Migration showing that 17,000
Zimbabweans were being deported monthly by June 2007.
Local government has been left in the awkward situation of having to
deal with the fallout from migration – from xenophobia to overcrowding
at refuges like Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church – while waiting
for national government to put an effective policy in place.
The authorities in Gauteng, South Africa's richest province, have had
to set up temporary shelters in response to the situation at the
church. Spokesman Daniel Ramarumo said it was a short-term solution to
the specific problem of overcrowding at the church, and the province
was looking at policy at national level to prevent the situation from
arising again.
Some national departments, such as Health and Education, have
formulated specific responses to the influx by providing antiretroviral
treatment to all undocumented migrants, and employing Zimbabwean
teachers to alleviate shortages in South African schools.
Human rights
NGOs said they hoped the permit would give undocumented Zimbabweans
some protection from the human rights abuses they often faced. [We've]
outlined the problems of lack of documentation, and it starts at the
border, where migrants face armed gangs of men, said Gerry Simpson, a
refugee researcher with Human Rights Watch, which called for the
permits in their 2008 report.
We're looking at reports of rape, killings, trafficking, abuse of
women, but it continues. [The new permit is] a clear turning point in
South Africa, which up until now has had a line that there is no
problem in Zimbabwe.
CoRMSA's Breen said the new permit could actually help guarantee the
human rights of both Zimbabweans and South Africans by protecting
Zimbabweans from exploitation while ensuring that skills shortages in
South Africa did not deny citizens access to health and education.
It will have very tangible effects for migrants themselves, but also
for South Africa, which will be able to better use the skills that many
Zimbabweans can contribute, said Breen, who noted that South Africa's
emphasis on deportation had taken Zimbabwean teachers out of classrooms
and into repatriation centres, with a one-way ticket home.
According to a 2007 study by the University of South Africa, more than
60 percent of Zimbabweans in the country had matriculated from
secondary school.
IRIN
Post published in: Politics