The stampede happened at the notoriously congested Marabastad Refugee Reception Centre in Pretoria on Monday, and an unconfirmed number of people sustained minor injuries. The incident comes three weeks after 14 Zimbabweans were injured earlier this month, after a similar stampede of people.
Gabriel Shumba from the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) visited the reception centre on Thursday, following rumours that some people had died in Monday’s stampede. He told SW Radio Africa that it appears that no deaths occurred. But he explained with the high number of people at the centre, there is no way to confirm how many people were injured.
“There were about 2000 people there and that is quite a shocking number,” Shumba said, adding: “It seems the primary cause of stampedes like this is the chaotic and confusing manner in which people are received at the centre.”
Congestion at the Marabastad centre has worsened recently, after the closure of the Crown Mines Refugee Reception Centre in Johannesburg last month. That development means the Pretoria office is the only refugee centre in the Gauteng province, and Shumba said there is an urgent need for another facility.
“There is a great need to open up another centre to accommodate everyone, and there is also a need to increase capacity, because clearly the staff (at the centre) is unable to cope,” Shumba said.
Shumba meanwhile added that the looming threat of Zimbabwean deportations is making matters worse. The South African authorities have committed to lifting the current moratorium on deportations when they finalise the Zimbabwe Documentation Project (ZDP). That deadline was the end of this month, although refugee rights group PASSOP has said the deadline has been extended by a month.
Shumba said that the threat means a growing number of Zimbabweans, who did not manage to apply for permits under the ZDP, are now trying to get asylum to remain in the country.
“As Zimbabwe Exiles Forum we think it is premature to start even talking about deporting people and it is ill advised, especially when the situation in Zimbabwe is not conducive for forced returns,” Shumba said.
South Africa has the highest number of registered asylum-seekers in the world and about 95% of asylum seekers enter the country from Mozambique or Zimbabwe. The authorities are now trying to toughen immigration laws, including changing the amount of time asylum seekers have to register at Refugee Reception Centres.
The current time limit of 14 days could be reduced to five if the department of Home Affairs succeeds in passing its Immigration Amendment Bill, which is before Parliament. The amendment could prevent many asylum seekers from receiving refugee status because already the 14 day period is not long enough.
Post published in: Africa News