THE ZIMBABWE SOLIDARITY FORUM (ZSF)

30 August 2005

SUBMISSION TO THE HOME AFFAIRS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

The Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum (ZSF) is a network of progressive South African civil society organisations including youth, women, labour and churches and students that are engaged in the promotion of solidarity for sustainable peace, democracy and human rights for Zimbabweans. The Right Reverend Rubin Phillip is the chairperson of the forum. The ZSF welcomes the announcement from Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula that she has ordered an independent probe into the deaths of two Zimbabweans at the Lindela holding facility in Gauteng. It is also noted that the suspension of Arthur Frazer, deputy director-general of the newly formed immigration branch, Ricardo Abrahams, the director of deportations, and Gcinumzi Ntlakana, the chief director of the branch's inspectorate indicates the level of seriousness with which this matter is being handled.

The proposed independent probe needs to go beyond an investigation into these particular deaths. Ongoing concerns over conditions at Lindela, and the broader context of South Africa's policies in relation to refugees and asylum seekers, particularly those from Zimbabwe, demands closer inspection and further action. Currently South Africa is denying access to political asylum to thousands of Zimbabweans seeking to escape persecution. Of the 5,000 applications for political asylum filed by Zimbabweans to date, fewer than 20 Zimbabweans have actually received political asylum in South Africa. There is an estimated backlog of more than 180 000 asylum seekers. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has five Refugee Reception Offices in the country. The reception office in Gauteng is characterised by long queues of people, some who have been waiting for weeks to gain access, and many of whom sleep overnight in the hopes of getting closer to the front of the queue. There are well documented cases of corruption from officials and bias by South African officials, and Lindela Detention centre staff, in the treatment of Zimbabweans.

The DHA has been slated by Parliament's own oversight body for not doing its work properly at the Lindela Detention Centre. Zimbabweans comprise the second largest group of deportees in the Lindela Detention Center. Most are repatriated without ever having seen an immigration official. The Centre is inadequately staffed and reports from civil society observers in Lindela indicate that officials are poorly trained and make little or no attempt to apply any human rights norms to the manner in which inmates are treated. A recent group of Zimbabwean clergy who visited the centre described it as 'a concentration camp'. 28 people from Lindela are reported to have died already in 2005.

There is a major concern that the privatization of this facility, and the accompanying profit driven approach, has inevitably distorted policy in relation to the treatment of deportees. Bosasa, the black empowerment company, contracted to run Lindela made an estimated R40 Million rand profit in 2004. Bosasa has been the centre of consistent criticism about the treatment of refugees and the conditions under which they live. The commission of inquiry will be headed by Reverend Otto Mbangula, assisted by former Northern Province premier Ngoako Ramathlodi and Dr Hashim Moomal. We call on Reverend Mbangula to take the involvement of civil society seriously in the course of the inquiry.

The recent call for submissions from civil society groupings to the Home affairs Portfolio Committee was inadequate in that it provided only 5 days for written submissions to be prepared. Given the crucial need to involve refugee communities in preparing these submissions, the fact that these communities are widely dispersed and difficult to bring together at short notice, and the fact that a number of civil society groupings are working collaboratively on these issues demands that further time be given.

Civil society groupings, including the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum, and its member organisations, have valuable and constructive contributions to make in this regard. We call on the Portfolio Committee and the members of the commission of inquiry to invite further submissions that can help to inform and guide the recommendations that begin to find solutions to these issues. These two bodies should be working collaboratively and with the cooperation of civil society groupings in our efforts to improve conditions for those who look to South Africa as a place of safety and human security.