Sibusiso Nxumalo talks to some `illegals’
A comment by Edwin, a Nigerian now living illegally in Johannesburg and studying business science at Damelin College, sums up the pressures driving many from distant African countries to South Africa:
“It’s much better than at home. At least there are still some jobs and there aren’t too many people here.”
Johannesburg, and particularly the city centre, has become a haven for Nigerians, Ghanaians and Zaireans and others for whom South Africa seems a land of opportunity.
I interviewed four illegals who entered the country in recent years. All said they had found it quite easy to enter the country and did not think they would be traced easily by immigration officials. The classic method is to enter the country as a tourist and simply go to ground.
One of the largest illegal groups is Zairean _ the influx started in 1991 with the fall of Mobuto Sese Seko’s regime and mounting anarchy in the country.
Another sizeable group comes from Zambia. Repression of student activists in the run-up to the country’s recent democratic election sparked an exodus to the south.
A Zairean immigrant who did not want to be named said she had come to South Africa on holiday and had decided to stay. “I came to visit my brother who came to South Africa when there was unrest in Zaire. I liked it here.” While her brother is studying at Wits University on a valid study permit, she is doing an English course at the same institution.
Speaking from a Hillbrow flat, she said she had been here for over two years and had never been “bothered” by immigration officials. She said she had found that many people from her home town, Lubumbashi, were also living illegally in Johannesburg.
Another Zairean interviewed in Hillbrow said he had organised a false identity document. “Me and my friends have organised ourselves into a family _ we help one another. Sometimes we have to find documents for people so that the police do not trouble them,” he said. He added that most of his friends entered the country on travel visas and had not gone back to Zaire.
Some are prepared to buy a return ticket _ a requirement for a tourist visa _ as the price of immigrating. Said Edwin: “I was told to buy a return ticket before being given a visa. I knew I was not going to use it but I bought it anyway.”
Most of the immigrants I spoke to said they had fled from poverty in their own countries. Some of them now fend for themselves in Johannesburg, working as hawkers, mending shoes or sewing clothes.
Edwin believes the new government will give more leeway to people who settle here illegally. “We should be more welcome by a black government,” he said.