In a statement to The Zimbabwean, Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, LHR Programme Director, Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme, argued the process would be ‘extremely’ expensive, would harm the health and well-being of those detained and said research had found deportation was not effective at deterring migrants.
“There is no evidence which shows that the detention and mass removal of Zimbabweans has been an effective migration management tool. In a pre-April 2009 period we saw the removal of hundreds of Zimbabweans each month. This is consistent with the research on alternatives to detention. This practice seems to have had no deterrent effect and Lawyers for Human Rights has seen the return of many of these deported persons on a regular basis,” said Ramjathan-Keogh.
He said a return to the process of mass removals was unlikely to have the desired effect and recommended that the SA government seriously consider alternative detention practices
South Africa will on July 31 lift the moratorium on deportations to Zimbabwe, which has been in place since April 2009.
There are an estimated 3 million Zimbabweans in South Africa, of which about 150 000 are in the asylum process, and 133 000 have been documented through a special documentation process which was carried out since last year.
This leaves the majority of Zimbabweans in South Africa vulnerable to this detention and deportation process.
The majority of Zimbabweans, upon reaching Beitbridge, immediately return to South Africa owing to the porous Beitbridge Border Post, where corruption is also rife.
Civil society organizations have also questioned government’s move to resume deportations in the face of continuing human rights violations occurring in Zimbabwe.
Post published in: Zimbabwe News