I'm the one who dug up this well buried number - buried in
Table 3.6 of the 2011 Population Census of South Africa, run by Statistics South Africa - it is on this page and has been for about 3 years, ever since the 2011 Population Census was published in 2012. Why this number was buried in percentages of the population rather than just listed outright - the total number of immigrants in South Africa is kind of important. Having said, it is great that it was picked up, so we can have a fact based discussion about Zimbabwe, not based on charges, denouncements and sloganeering. - MrK
(HERALD ZW) Zim Immigrants: Three million from 1,6 million
When figures simply won’t help
Talking about the Diaspora factor, I had an amazingly honest discussion with one of the leading editors in the country. We touched on many issues, covered many themes, and I found his views disarmingly fair, balanced and penetrating. I could not resist asking: but pal, how come this level of critical thinking is never brought to bear in your column and paper? Well, my friend, when you sit down to write, you are structured by multiple relationships, relationships which end up shaping your pieces.
If I tackle a matter with this level of candour, will I secure access to those vital briefings that equip me as a journalist? Will I? Ahh pal, I protested further, including acknowledging that with a total immigrant population of 1,6 million (courtesy of SA Stats), South Africa cannot have three million Zimbabwean immigrants? That in fact the largest community of migrants is Mozambican? Yes, he cried in response, adding that figure can no longer be revised. It has become a “fact” by usage, one too important to be revised at this late stage in the whole narrative!
We both sipped down our despair, despair that took the colour of that dank British liquid they call tea.
The spiral of compounded lies
When one of the Nkomos stood up and out to remind frenzied protesters that the late Father Zimbabwe was Sotho, not Kalanga, a bitter debate ensued over that monumental disclosure. On the one side was a group that was so grateful the young man had gotten them to know their hero and founder of their nation even better, albeit after so long. Then you had this other side which was decidedly angry.
Why make a correction which has the effect of denying all those opposed to the “regime” a key missile with which to pelt it? I have no doubt in my mind that this same latter group will wonder why South Africa Stats Office published a detail which has the effect of blunting a key weapon against the “regime”.
To oppose is to hurl anything at the establishment, especially lies which must be protected, nurtured and grown to remain durable weaponry.
Presenting reality in proper proportion is a sin; to falsely compound a lie a thousand times is a virtue. It could be about unemployment, migrants, victims of gukurahundi, beneficiaries of land reforms, or simply people’s identities.
That is us: a people who won’t allow unhelpful, inconvenient facts to stand in the way. When facts are coy and reluctant, fictionalise them.
Icho!
nathaniel.manheru@zimpapers.co.zw
Labels: IMMIGRATION, MDC PROPAGANDA
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SA denies Zimbabwe suspect 'renditions'
23/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
SOUTH Africa’s serious crimes investigations unit, the Hawks, has denied handing over criminal suspects to Zimbabwe to die.
The Sunday Times newspaper claimed in a report that the Hawks conducted illegal "renditions" with their Zimbabwean counterparts - by arresting "suspects" and illegally sending them across the border. Three suspects later died at the hand of Zimbabwean police, the paper claimed.
But Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said on Sunday: "At no point did any of our members render people to Zimbabwe.”
He confirms, however, that the men named by the paper had been deported as illegal immigrants, adding: "If they do not have papers, we hand them over to immigration authorities at Beitbridge. We don't have a mandate to be checking up on everybody that is deported.”
Rendition is the illegal kidnapping and transfer of prisoner from one country to another.
The Sunday Times described the case of Zimbabwean, Witness Ndeya, 26. He was suspected of shooting a police officer before fleeing to South Africa where he was arrested and reportedly renditioned by the Hawks, and then murdered, apparently by Zimbabwean police.
A few days later, Zimbabwean police told the family that “he was killed by other police officers", according to another man who was arrested with him and later released.
Ndeya's death certificate confirmed he died at "Hippo Valley Farm" in Bulawayo on November 20, with the cause of death listed as "multiple gunshot wounds".
South African authorities insist Ndeya and his companions were "all arrested as illegal immigrants" and were "deported ".
Polela, said: "At no point did we simply hand over people to authorities without [an immigration official present], because that would constitute rendition."
The alleged incident is a contravention of the Immigration Act. It also runs contrary to a "special dispensation" by the government at the time that prevented Zimbabweans from being deported from South Africa.
Zimbabwean police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka said he "can't confirm or deny that Ndeya was arrested or killed".
The Sunday Times said it was aware of several other individuals who have also been renditioned to Zimbabwe.
Labels: CRIME, IMMIGRATION, PROPAGANDA, SOUTH AFRICA
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Deportations against SA interests
Saturday, 30 July 2011 02:00
By Mandisi Majavu
At the end of July 2011, the South African government plans to lift the moratorium on deportations to Zimbabwe and will probably start the deportation of all undocumented Zimbabweans living in South Africa.
Given the Minister of Home Affair's stated intent to begin ridding the country of undocumented people from other African countries after she is finished with Zimbabweans, it is more than likely that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is going to intensify its crackdown on all undocumented people after July 2011.
The irony is that in certain cases, the DHA is to blame for undocumented people in the country.
A recent research study undertaken by the People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty (Passop) shows that scores of people are turned away on a daily basis from the Refugee Reception Office (RRO) in Cape Town, "rendering them undocumented through no fault of their own."
Passop monitored the RRO for two weeks between March 28, and April 8, 2011.
During this period, 1 659 people were tuned away for various reasons.
About 365 people were turned away because there were no forms for them and 363 people were turned away due to border pass issues.
Some people were turned away because
1. There were too many people to serve that day
2. They had no money to bribe officials,
3. They were at the wrong office,
4. For visiting the RRO on a wrong ‘nationality day'.
It is partly due to the factors highlighted above that the Passop report argues that the RRO in Cape Town is operating "under capacity" in comparison to the numbers of people applying for papers.
Instead of penalising immigrants for something that is beyond their control, the South African government ought to consider extending the concept of the Zimbabwe Dispensation Project (ZDP) to other foreign nationals from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).
The Sadc region is moving towards a free trade area. Research shows that the opening up of national economies has largely been accompanied by the increased mobility of labour across borders.
Interestingly, the proposed Protocol on the Free Movement of People in the Sadc of 1995 had initially also put forward an "open borders" concept, ie Sadc citizens having free movement within Sadc.
Apart from the fact that the Sadc region is moving towards a free trade area, it is worth keeping in mind that immigrants from the Sadc countries helped build the South African economy.
Research also shows that South African mines (and the South African agricultural industry) depended on cheap foreign labour in order to make profits.
In fact, "mining has consistently been one of South Africa's most important industries, one of its biggest employers and the driving force of its industrial economy," contends Jonathan Crush, the director of the Southern African Migration Programme (SAMP).
SAMP research further shows that throughout the 20th century, at least 40 percent of the mine workforce was non-South African.
A research paper published by the Global Commission on International Migration (GCIM) in 2005 points out that by 1970, there were over 260 000 male labour migrants on South African mines.
Put differently, this means that hundreds of thousands of male migrants from the Sadc countries have spent the greater parts of their working lives in South Africa, argues Crush. These workers came from Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola and Tanzania.
It was in recognition of this fact in 1995 that the post-apartheid South African government offered permanent residence to mineworkers from outside of the country who had been working on the mines since 1986.
Crush reports that 26,440 miners applied for permanent residence, but points out that the reason a small number of miners applied was twofold.
Firstly, miners were poorly informed about the first amnesty and had insufficient time to make their applications.
Secondly, the fact that the miners had to have served 10 years to apply is unjust given the 5-year limitation on SADC country citizens applying for permanent residence.
If all miners were to apply for a reopened amnesty, the results would be startling. Some 150 000 non-South African miners would be eligible.
Additionally, the GCIM's research paper reveals that many adults in SADC countries have either parents or grandparents who have worked in South Africa in the past.
"In every case, nearly a quarter or more people have grandparents who had worked in South Africa . . . About a quarter of the people in Namibia and Zimbabwe have parents who had worked in South Africa.
"So did 41 percent of Batswana, 54 percent of Mozambicans and 83 percent of Basotho."
It is this history that compels me to argue that the South African government ought to consider extending the concept of the ZDP to other foreign nationals from the Sadc region.
Based on the foregoing, people from the Sadc countries have political grounds to apply for South African papers that allow them to work and live in this country.
Their fathers and grandfathers, after all, were exploited, like all blacks in this country, by a white supremacist regime in order to build the South African economy.
In some cases, their fathers and grandfathers paid the ultimate price, dying from pneumonia and other lung diseases on the South African mines.
Perhaps it is worth noting that many people in the Sadc region live in poverty and view South Africa as a place with many economic opportunities.
Although South Africa has its own problems and challenges, the truth of the matter is that South Africa is the economic powerhouse in the region (some might argue on the whole continent).
In a policy written for the Economic Justice Network, Dale McKinley argues that Sadc member states have a population of about 250 million people and a combined GDP of some US$432 billion - 65 percent of which comes from South Africa alone.
Needless to point out, South Africa became the regional economic powerhouse that it is today partly on the backs of immigrant labourers from the Sadc who helped build the country's economy.
Is it unreasonable for people to want to share in the fruits of what they helped create? - www.pambazuka.org
Labels: IMMIGRATION, SOUTH AFRICA
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Immigration probes Egyptian embassy
By Chibaula Silwamba
Tue 31 May 2011, 07:30 CAT
THE Immigration Department is investigating the Egyptian embassy over suspected fraudulent replacement of photos of an applicant for a work permit. But Egyptian Ambassador to Zambia Salah El-Sadek dismissed the allegations of replacement of the applicant’s photos and denied claims that he was persecuting Egyptians that supported their country’s January 25 revolution.
According to a letter dated May 20, 2011 from the Immigration Department risk management and compliance unit and signed by J. Shula, the department was investigating the case in which an Egyptian government-assigned teacher had his photos on the work permit irregularly replaced.
“RE: Suspected fraudulent replacement of photos by an official from Egyptian embassy. Reference is made to your minute dated 11th May, 2011 regarding the above captioned matter of Mr Ashraf Fawzy Elbahlul whose photos at Immigration Headquarters were substituted by an official from the Egyptian Embassy,” stated Shula in her letter to Egyptian Association of Zambia vice chairman Dr Hassan Fadda.
“I wish to inform you that the same is under investigation and the outcome will be communicated to you accordingly.”
In his letter dated May 18, 2011 to the Immigration Department, Dr Fadda demanded an explanation on the change of photos on the work permit of Elbahlul, an Arabic teacher at Altaqua Islamic School.
“This is for the safety of the Egyptians in Zambia,” Dr Fadda stated.
Dr Fadda, who is also a member of Egypt’s opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood, accused Ambassador El-Sadek of being anti-Egyptian revolution and ‘persecuting’ his nationals in Zambia.
He said Ambassador El-Sadek was a supporter of Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak and was frustrating the efforts of the new regime.
Dr Fadda said his association had written to the Egyptian Prime Minister and Muslim Brotherhood headquarters to complain about the conduct of Ambassador El-Sadek.
And Elbahlul said although he was not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, he would be proud to be part of the grouping, adding that he was being harassed because of his association with members of the opposition team.
But Ambassador El-Sadek said Dr Fadda was representing himself and not the Egyptian community in Zambia and denied allegations that he was opposed to the revolution.
“How come the new government has not recalled me if I am against the revolution? I am not against the revolution,” Ambassador El-Sadek said. “Dr Fadda doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know that my family participated in that revolution.”
He said it was not true that he or the embassy was persecuting Elbahlul.
Ambassador El-Sadek said Elbahlul had been recalled by the institute that sent him to Zambia and not him as ambassador.
Labels: EGYPT, IMMIGRATION
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COMMENT - At least this number puts to rest the idea that there are 4 million Zimbabweans in South Africa. If 10% of Zimbabweans in South Africa applied for business/work permits, that would put the number in the 330,000 plus range. What teh article doesn't mention is that the Zimbabwean economy was destroyed by economic sanctions, which is why there is a larger than usual number of Zimbabweans in South Africa.
33,000 Zimbabweans apply to stay in SA
by Sapa
28/10/2010 00:00:00
THE issuing of study, business or work permits to Zimbabweans in South Africa who qualify for these documents is proceeding well, Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told MPs on Tuesday. Speaking in the National Assembly, she said over 33,000 applications had been received.
"As of Monday, we had received 33,117 applications, and we have already adjudicated 9890. "As you know, we also announced amnesty for those who would return South African documents that they had received fraudulently, if they follow the procedure and get their own documents, and we have already given amnesty to 1046 who have returned the documents to us.
"So this process is going very well," she said.
She said there were 42 Home Affairs Department offices and 246 staff that were dealing with Zimbabweans, with 51 additional staff joining on Wednesday.
"We think this should be enough to deal with this. But we'd like ... to call on Zimbabweans to use this opportunity and not to wait until December 31," she said.
An estimated two million Zimbabweans live in South Africa, most of them illegally.
In August, the South African government announced its special dispensation and moratorium on deportations would end on December 31 this year.
It also extended an amnesty to all Zimbabweans in possession of fraudulent South African IDs, saying that those who returned them to Home Affairs offices would not be prosecuted.
The department says work, study and business permits issued to all qualifying Zimbabwean nationals will be done so free of charge.
Labels: IMMIGRATION, PROPAGANDA, SOUTH AFRICA
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