Only 3% of African refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa were unemployed before their arrival, and two-thirds have at least the equivalent of matric, according to survey results released on Thursday.
Nearly a third were tertiary students before they came to South Africa, and of the rest almost 70% held skilled or semi-skilled jobs in their countries of origin.
African exiles in the country are on average better educated than black South Africans, according to the findings of the National Refugee Baseline Survey released in Pretoria.
However, the unemployment rate among refugees and asylum seekers grew to 24% after their arrival in South Africa. More than half have no choice but to do unskilled work such as road-side vending or watching and washing cars.
”The majority of the applicants indicated that they are currently holding occupations that are worse than those they had prior to their arrival in South Africa,” the report reads.
”The South African government should recognise the valuable contributions that the majority of asylum seekers and refugees can make to the South African economy and refrain from assuming that refugees are unskilled people or people who come to South Africa in search of better work opportunities.”
The study was commissioned by Japan’s International Cooperation Agency and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
It found that 44% of the respondents usually have only one meal a day. Twenty-one percent said they and their families often go without food.
Twenty-six percent are unable to send their children to school, mostly because they cannot afford the fees, and nearly a fifth have been refused emergency medical care.
According to UNHCR representative Fedde Groot, it is largely resilience and resourcefulness that allows refugees to survive in South Africa despite overwhelming odds.
”There is an urgent need to do the right thing and turn rights that are currently only on paper into real rights,” he said in Pretoria.
There is a humanitarian imperative on the government and civil society to put in place measures needed to improve the lot of refugees and asylum seekers. But there is a practical incentive too — South Africa stands to benefit much from the foreign human resources in its midst, he said.
A total of 1 507 refugees and asylum seekers from 12 African countries were interviewed for the survey.
It found that the average age of exiles in the country is 31 years, two-thirds are fluent in English, and 48% are single. Their average per capita income is R650.
Almost two-thirds of those questioned perceive South Africans in a negative light. Thirty-one percent said South Africans regard them as thieves of wives and jobs.
The report urges the government to debunk publicly myths about asylum seekers and refugees, and to speak positively about the contribution they could make to the country.
The government should also improve the provision of basic services like health, education and the issuing of documentation to this group of people, it proposes.
The health and education departments should make their personnel aware of the right of refugees and asylum seekers to access their services.
”The South African government must recognise its international law and constitutional obligations towards asylum seekers and refugees,” the report states.
It also identifies various roles for non-governmental bodies to play in assisting exiles in South Africa. — Sapa