Mukoni T Ratshitanga
Police and home affairs officials in Mpumalanga and the Northern Province are deporting large numbers of former Mozambican refugees despite a 1996 Cabinet resolution that gave them citizenship, according to reports from the provinces.
Last week 120 former refugees were arrested in Giyani while travelling to work, says Nicola Johnston of the University of the Witwatersrand’s Refugee Research Programme.
“They were ultimately deported, despite the fact that they have been residing in the country for the past 15 years. None were granted the right to collect any personal belongings from their homes or inform their families they were being deported. And, as with the majority of such cases, they have nothing to return to in Mozambique.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs has yet to implement a 1996 Cabinet resolution which gave permanent citizenship to Mozambican residents in South Africa who did not return to their country before the 1994 elections.
The parliamentary portfolio committee on home affairs this week raised concerns about the delay. “The committee is concerned that after one year and five months, there is no progress in implementing the Cabinet decision. We call on the ministry to implement the decision without delay,” said the committee’s statement.
Hatlani Sibanyoni of the Kubo-nakale Human Rights and Justice Centre says deportations are rife in Mpumalanga.
Three weeks ago, Sibanyoni helped save Shadrack Mujovu from deportation after police denied his South African identity document was proof he is a South African. Home affairs officials in Witbank also wanted more proof, including the IDs of Mujovu’s parents, exemption notices and his original Mozambican ID.
Another recipient of Sibanyoni’s help was a six-month-old baby whose mother was arrested on her way to a shop. Although the woman did not have a South African ID, she has been in South Africa for seven years.
Police kept her baby from her for five days. She was deported to Mozambique three weeks ago, leaving behind two children aged six and 12 years.
Both Sibanyoni and Johnston say police and border officials are tearing up IDs belonging to former refugees.
Other reports tell of farmers who employ Mozambicans calling in the authorities to arrest them before pay day.
There are tales of extortion by tribal authorities in the Nkomazi area, who demand up to R500 for access to a permanent stand on which to build a house. “Refugees say those who don’t pay this sum are subjected to raids by the army, which arrests them and deports them,” Johnston says.
“They say they are asked to give money, usually in the range of R200 and R300, so as not to be deported.
“We have also received complaints about extortion by certain home affairs offices in the Nkomazi area, where officials apparently require R20 to R50 for checking progress on ID applications.
“In the Bushbuckridge district, R10 has been charged for taking fingerprints. There are accounts of people being asked to pay R300 to R500 for their IDs – whether these were official IDs is not clear. Such allegations were denied by the offices implicated.”