The minister of home affairs made an impassioned plea on Thursday for foreigners to apply for the necessary permits to be in the country legally.
In a personal statement to the South African Human Rights Commission hearings on xenophobia, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said: ”Look at Zimbabweans — why are they illegal? There are many different permits they can apply for in South Africa. Many different permits.”
She said every country has its own laws that cannot be violated, and even she as a refugee in Zambia during the apartheid regime had to apply for the necessary documentation.
”And rightly so,” she said. ”Why not come and declare that you are an asylum-seeker?”
Earlier, the hearing heard there are no free movement agreements between Southern African countries, and that immigration laws do not take into account integration and movement in the region.
The hearing was also told that there are long delays with asylum applications, with allegations of bribery in some departments, and that even if people have the correct paperwork, officials — particularly in hospitals — discriminate against them.
There are also allegations of police harassment.
In a candid address, Mapisa-Nqakula admitted there are problems and delays in her department, many due to a lack of resources, but said these are being addressed.
She condemned ”the scourge” of xenophobia and said officials who treat asylum seekers and refugees unfairly are not a reflection of government policies. Her department has already set up an anti-xenophobia unit and is working with organisations such as the Southern African Migration Project to train border officials.
She has also addressed concerns about police behaviour to the minister of safety and security. She conceded that South Africa is the only Southern African country that has not signed the Protocol on the Free Movement of People.
”But we are discussing the matter now,” she said.
Concerned about what she feels are inaccurate reports about the Lindela deportation facility outside Krugersdorp, she said officials have been told that it is not a detention centre or a place to verify documentation. It is only a deportation point.
Children are no longer allowed to be kept there, and pregnant women for no longer than a week.
She urged NGOs, the media and the public to take up her offer to inspect the centre whenever they want to.
”What is worrying is that people who are the most vociferous don’t visit it,” she said.
Although the room was silent during her impassioned submission, there were occasional grunts of disagreement and disbelief from the room.
At times, emotions ran high at the hearings, attended by NGOs, refugees and asylum seekers, some with their babies cooing on their knees.
The first day of the hearings started late and although individual submissions were given a time restriction, lengthy statements and questions from some of the six members from Parliament’s portfolio committee on home affairs caused further backlogs.
On the final day, MP Dumisani Sithole, narrowly skirting rudeness, kept a tight rein on his fellow panelists and comments from the floor — but it was too late. There was no time for submissions from Christians for Peace in Africa and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities.
They received an apology and the minister was given the floor.
Tension also rose at times, especially when MP Mewa Ramgobin appeared troubled by what he later referred to as ”government bashing” contained in some of the personal experiences of refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.
Some of the panel’s comments led one person to say after her submission that the hearings, although open, did not make people feel comfortable about making their submission.
However, MP Joe Seremane frequently stepped in the fray with a gentle African proverb to soften the mood.
And for others, there was the commission canteen’s soul food lunch of rice, gem squash and meat in gravy to look forward to, with the shortage of canteen chairs forcing people with opposing views to eat together and break the tension with small talk about the Swiss rolls waiting for pudding. — Sapa