JOHANNESBURG - CIVIC society groups have expressed outrage over South Africa's newly enacted cellphone registration legislation, which will result in thousands of undocumented refugees disconnected or failing to activate their SIM starter packs.Johannesburg-based Zimbabwe Political Victims Association (ZIPOVA) says the new legislation, the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act (RICA), tramples on some basic human freedoms. “The greatest challenge (faced by immigrants) is proof of residence. Most migrants do not qualify to deposit or acquire properties. This means many will be switched off,” said ZIPOVA coordinator, Oliver Kubikwa. He told CAJ News that the law was ridiculous, as “it tries to fight crime on one hand while promoting it on another hand as many immigrants will fraudulently acquire the required documentation to avoid deactivation”.
“This law also means we are going back to Stone Age, as a single cellphone may now be used by hundreds of people,” said Kubikwa. Pretoria-based Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) condemned the new legislation describing it as “an unwarranted invasion of privacy”. ZEF director, Gabriel Shumba, who is also a seasoned human rights lawyer, told CAJ News that, “the act is a sad development as it will make our (ZEF) clients’ stay in South Africa even more onerous as most of them are unable to prove residence”.
“The requirements are a miserable indictment of South Africa’s continued lack of sensitivity against the high expectations placed on the country’s democratic credentials in Africa and the world at large,” claimed Shumba. The Black Sash, an independent, non-governmental human rights organisation that works for the advancement of justice and equality in South Africa, says while RICA is intended for the noble cause of curbing crime in an effort to make South Africa a safer place, the regulation has unintended consequences which must have been foreseen and addressed by the government in a holistic manner.
Black Sash advocacy programme manager, Ratula Beukman, told CAJ News that “RICA will certainly affect undocumented South Africans and immigrants negatively, as they would find it difficult to stay in contact with people who are important to them”. The Black Sash movement said it was advocating for urgent measures to be implemented at South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, where the real constraints existed, in order to ensure that everyone got appropriate identity documents. The new Act has sent shivers of panic and anxiety among the immigrant communities, with a cross-section of those who spoke to CAJ News saying they were now racing against time to register their SIM cards and avoid deactivation.
RICA came into effect came into effect on 1 July 2009 and SIM cards of subscribers that fail to comply with RICA within the specified time period of 18 months will be deactivated. South Africa maintains the new regulation was formulated to curb increasing crime, as it has been discovered that most criminals use cellphones to execute their sinister missions. Tracking down criminals could become easier if phone numbers and residential addresses are documented.
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