A SUBMISSION BY THE COORDINATING BODY OF REFUGEE COMMUNITIES (CBRC )

After consultation with our constituency, it has resulted that the following points constitute their common grievances.

Reception conditions: upon arrival in the Republic of South Africa, an asylum seeker is left to the nature's fate. There is no shelter and no food. This constitutes a violation to a person's primary need rights.

The refugee reception centre is but a nightmare not only to new comers but also to asylum seekers. The alibi is either under resourced or computers not functioning properly or not even working. This exposes all including refugees, to the mercy of the police in search of culprits. The documents issued by the DHA are all renewable. This gives an opportunity to some cynical official to save who they like and when they feel like doing so. We humbly think that internationally, once a refugee, one should be given a document that is useful to the bearer. Almost all the services do not value the refugee documents as they are used to a green, thirteen-digit card. Some refugees cannot do any businesses in neighbouring countries if they fail the interview of the committee set to allocate the Passports. As there is no social assistance, we thought it would have been humane to provide refugees with means to help themselves. In the contrary, the conditions are getting tighter and tighter.

The police or other security servants are sometimes abusing their power in ignoring the refugee's official documents. This deliberate sabotage of the official documents is nothing but xenophobic and discriminatory. The refugees and asylum seekers hence deprived of their documents are always arrested and sent to Lindela where conditions are but deplorable.

We are aware of unjustified death of detainees in Lindela. The families of the deceased are the last to be informed and sometimes they are not even informed officially.

Recently, the Somali community in Mayfair has complained about immoral police officers that are illegally harassing them under the pretext that they are members of the notorious terrorist group "alqaeda". The release is negotiable in terms of ransom to save one from deportation to the Guatanamo bay. To date, five (5) cases have been registered. Someone who did not pay his ransom has a court case pending. Cases of abuse are legion in the refugee community by the police officers.

Some schools are very co-operative in registering refugee children whose social conditions unfortunately have been very detrimental in the many dropouts. Some other school officials are tired of the bankruptcy of the refugee parents, unable to honour some of the elementary material requirements of their children. Moreover, refugees are told that tertiary education is luxury. If the refugee has to go back home, what kind of a person is he/she going to be for not being really qualified to compete in this global village? We think that, as human beings, we should also have our share in Education at all levels.

It has been believed that getting any ailment is a curse as those big, well-equipped hospitals with the best medical personnel have tightened their polices against foreigners, including refugees.

Street vendors are devastated by the methods used by the Metropolitan Police officers. They simply loot. Many refugees whose merchandise was taken by these officers have never recovered even after the payment of the fine, which is also unrealistic. How would you like refugees to live?

Refugee drivers are also very worried once an officer discovers that he/she is driving. Dosso was insulted and degraded and verbally abused by an officer who was supposed to advise and assist him, only because he was a foreigner. He himself qualifies it as xenophobic and racist.

Landlords hesitate too much before renting us their flats. They immediately assume that we are going to be overcrowded and as a logical consequence, the accommodation is very expensive with fictitious bills.

The Johannesburg local government being autonomous has never adhered to the national government's policy on refugee. Any foreigner is labelled as Nigerian, thus criminal; ignoring the existing of refugees. And in distributing spaces for local markets refugees are totally forgotten. This prevents our constituency to officially contribute and integrate the Economic Development sector.

A group of nationals who wanted spaces to sell their business targeted the shop of an Ivorian refugee, Koffi Kouadio, only because he is not a national. This xenophobic attitude is very dangerous in a cosmopolitan city like Johannesburg.

As we will be coming on your offices on Tuesday, we hope to bring some more cases.

These grievances have been compiled by CBRC (The Co-ordinating Body of Refugee
Communities)