The unveiling by the Department of Home Affairs of a resurrected plan for refugees has come too late for thousands of Zimbabweans, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday.
DA spokesperson for home affairs Mark Lowe said the failure of the department to admit to a refugee crisis was a reflection of ”incompetence and ignorance” in the department.
”The truth is that the government has never known what to do about the Zimbabwean crises that have hit the country with frightening regularity since 2000,” he said.
”Their stance has been to do nothing, and until recently this worked because the overflow of the crises into South Africa was manageable.”
Lowe said there were ways to make the lives of fleeing Zimbabweans better, but the government refused to admit to the failure of ”silent diplomacy”.
”For the African National Congress to actually admit that there is a refugee problem is to admit that their and president Mbeki’s ”silent diplomacy” Zimbabwe policy has been a failure.”
He urged the government to publicly hold Zimbabwe’s government accountable for their actions and stop deporting asylum seekers, while setting up places of safety for refugees.
The Mail & Guardian reported this week that the government is dusting off a 2002 plan to deal with a feared mass influx of Zimbabweans into South Africa, amid a growing official recognition that economic migration is snowballing towards crisis.
Last week Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad told a media conference in Pretoria that the Zimbabwean influx was ”a serious problem” and that it was ”vital for South Africa to act”.
Increase of violations
Meanwhile, torture, assault, unlawful detention and other violations of human rights are increasing rapidly in Zimbabwe, according to a new report.
The report, by the independent Human Rights Forum, highlighted the government crackdown on the country’s political opposition.
Monitors said they collected evidence documenting 5 307 human rights violations in the first six months of this year — nearly double the number during the same period a year ago, the report said.
The crackdown appears to be continuing. A pro-democracy group, Women of Zimbabwe Arise, reported this week that 19 of its activists, both men and women, had been arrested the day before while playing netball in the southern town of Masvingo and were being held in police cells.
No reason for their detention was given, the group said in a statement. The group is known for staging surprise political demonstrations and regularly having members arrested under sweeping security laws, but it said it had staged no recent protests in Masvingo.
In its analysis, Human Rights Forum said the violations documented through to June 30 included two politically linked deaths, 328 cases of torture, 481 assaults by state personnel and militants, 802 cases of unlawful arrest and detention, 935 incidents of political victimisation and intimidation and 1 937 violations of freedom of expression and movement. — Sapa-AP