South Africa has expressed concern about the increasing incidents of its citizens being deported on arrival in foreign countries, without reason and even if they have visas.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad told a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday that the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates are countries where South Africans are regularly deported from.
It is difficult to determine why this is happening. He said it seems that the South African names appear on a list but no one could confirm this to the government.
”Unless there is some form of transparency and greater explanation, many innocent people are going to be caught in this situation,” Pahad said.
He said one example wis the deportation of Adam Habib, the executive director of the Democracy and Governance Programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), who had his visa revoked on his arrival in New York in October last year.
In the meantime, the US has also revoked the visas of his wife Fatima, and their two young sons, Irfan and Zidaan.
”It is very difficult how a director at the HSRC, who represents the council [and] goes to the US to meet [people at] US institutions and funding organisations, after having studied in the US and having visited there regularly, has suddenly been listed on some list,” he said.
”The perception out there is that there is a targeted action against South Africans of the Islamic faith. Whether that is true or not, we don’t know,” Pahad added.
South Africa has asked for information on the deportation of its citizens but has received no response.
”It is a matter we have to try and resolve bilaterally where this has happened. It has happened in the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and more in the US,” he said. — Sapa