Police in Limpopo often assault and extort money from Zimbabwean migrants and fail to verify their identity or legal status before deporting them, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.
HRW released a report, Unprotected Migrants: Zimbabweans in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, that it says ”documents how state officials arrest, detain and deport undocumented foreign migrants in ways that flout South Africa’s immigration law.
”South African police often mistreat undocumented workers when they arrest them,” HRW’s deputy Africa director Georgette Gagnon said in a statement.
”While awaiting deportation at police stations, undocumented migrants are given inadequate shelter and food, and some are detained beyond the 30-day legal limit.”
HRW said there were up to three million Zimbabweans living in South Africa and more were streaming to escape political and economic problems in Zimbabwe.
”Most of them enter the country by crossing the Limpopo River along the border and are undocumented.”
The organisation said the South Africa government failed to enforce both immigration law and labour law, which adversely affects migrants, even those with legal documentation.
”For example, the immigration law does not permit undocumented workers awaiting deportation to collect their unpaid wages and personal belongings.
”Also, foreign migrants are legally entitled to obtain workers’ compensation, but in practise they face obstacles in receiving these funds.” — Sapa