South African Police Services members have, since the lapse of the period for Zimbabweans to legalise their stay in South Africa, been arresting Zimbabwean nationals and, in some cases, soliciting bribes in exchange for their freedom.
Alice Mhlanga, MDC (Johannesburg) Secretary for Information and Publicity, slated the conduct of the crooked police officers.
“Some of the Police are just after bribes and we will expose them for that if they continue to harass people with proper documents just because they are Zimbabweans, asking them, ‘When are you going back to your country?’ If members of the SAPS can talk like this, we feel unprotected in the event of xenophobia breaking out,” she said in a statement to The Zimbabwean this week.
Last year, South Africa lifted the Special Dispensation it previously accorded undocumented Zimbabweans. This paved way for deportations. It is estimated that three million Zimbabweans live in South Africa after fleeing the economic and political problems in their country.
Police have repeatedly denied they are targeting Zimbabweans.
Post published in: News