Jonathan Ancer
When the train passed through Nelspruit, Kenneth Simango closed his eyes, took a deep breath and jumped. The Mozambican landed on the ground, bruised but unharmed.
Simango (29) claims that while he was being transported from the controversial Lindela deportation centre in Krugersdorp back to Maputo, guards let him jump off the moving train after he paid them a R200 bribe.
In 1991, Simango crept through the Kruger National Park into South Africa. “In Mozambique,” he explains, “the war between Frelimo and Renamo has left many in the country without jobs. This was my chance to escape a life of poverty. I thought I was on my way to paradise.”
Simango says that on February 15 he was walking from his shack in Alexandra to neighbouring Sandton to finish a painting job, when he was stopped by police. They identified him as a Mozambican by a mark on his arm from an initiation ritual.
According to Simango, they asked to see his documents and when he explained that he did not have any, they shoved him in the back of a van and took him to Alexandra police station.
In chains, he was transferred to the Lindela centre in Krugersdorp. The centre serves as a transit camp for captured illegal immigrants who are to be transported back home.
He claims the guards at Lindela beat him. “One officer hit me because he said he didn’t like my face,” says Simango. He alleges another guard told him that if he paid R50 he would be spared a second beating. He paid the money.
Last week the Human Rights Commission (HRC) released a damning report detailing the corruption of officials and the ill-treatment of inmates at Lindela. The report states that extortion and bribery are widespread among apprehending officers. It also states that there is inadequate nutrition and medical care and that staff subject inmates to degrading treatment.
Lindela representative Themba Snyman says it has been proposed that an independent ombudsman be appointed so that inmates can make their grievances known and action can be taken. Snyman says that whenever a guard is implicated in abusing inmates, disciplinary action is taken and there are cases where guards have been found guilty and dismissed.
Simango was kept at Lindela for three days before he was “posted” back to Mozambique.
“They took us like cattle into trucks from Lindela to the station,” he says. Simango explains that when the Mozambicans boarded the train they were forced to sit “chafkop” on the bench until the train arrived in Maputo 11 hours later – hunched forward, their head between their knees, clasping their hands together. He also claims that the guards walked past and whipped them.
Simango claims that for a fee some of the illegal immigrants can escape deportation, albeit risking their lives in the process. The guards on the train charge the Mozambicans R200 to “escape”. Once the immigrant has paid up, the guards open the train door and he is allowed to exit the moving train. If you are scared to jump the police push you off – a service for which they do not charge.
Simango claims he paid the bribe because in South Africa he had work, a home, a girlfriend and a child. In Mozambique he would starve. While he was waiting in line for his turn to “escape”, Simango saw a man leap from the train. He heard a heavy thud and saw sparks. Simango is certain the man fell under the train and was crushed. He is surprised there are not reports of bodies found at the tracks.
The HRC’s Jody Collopen says he has not heard accusations of immigrants being thrown off trains, but that believes the levels of corruption uncovered at Lindela, and the fact that only 800 immigrants of 1 200 who board the train arrive at the destination, make this possible.
Once the immigrants leave Lindela, members of the South African Police Service escort them back to their countries. According to the co- ordinator of cross-border crimes, Superintendent Klopper, the police are aware of these allegations and, together with the Department of Home Affairs, have launched an investigation.
The immigrants’ desire to return to South Africa ensures that Lindela is never short of business. Simango says that the next time he is arrested, he will return to Mozambique and then re-enter South Africa rather than risk his life jumping off a train.
Domingo Hlongwane agrees. This 22-year-old illegal immigrant was arrested at the end of February for the second time since he fled Mozambique in 1997. The first time he was deported to Mozambique he was penniless, but he managed to slip into the group that had paid the guards for their freedom.
The second time he was too scared to fool the guards because he alleges that he witnessed a guard shoot an immigrant through the hand after he refused to sit “chafkop”.
Hlongwane had only R20 with him on the train, but the guards decided to give him a discount. He claims the guards had boasted that they had had a profitable journey, netting R3 700 from the immigrants. He leapt off the train and injured his foot. It took him two days to limp home to Alexandra.
“Most of the South African people are hostile to us,” complains Hlongwane. “They call us ikwerekwere [a derogatory term for foreigners], they accuse us of taking their jobs, sleeping with their women, being responsible for crime and stealing their land.
“We’re also abused by the people who employ us … when it comes to the end of the month, instead of paying us, they call the police and have us arrested. When the police take us, they steal our possessions. They say that when we came into the country we had nothing, so we must leave with nothing.”