Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

South Africa + 1 more

South Africa: Zim group lashes out at SA government after death of refugee baby

A Zimbabwe activism group, Save Zimbabwe Campaign Coalition, has lashed out at the South African government for corruption and ill treatment of refugees at Home Affairs and refugee centres across the country - after the child of an exile was killed in a police raid at a Cape Town Home Affairs office last week.

According to group officials, police allegedly attacked a group of protesting exiles, including a group of Zimbabweans, outside the Nyanga office last Friday and shot at them at close range with rubber bullets. In the stampede that ensued a young woman, believed to be a Zimbabwean exile with a baby on her shoulders, fell and landed on her child who later died. The group has since called on the South African government to "uphold the rights of immigrant citizens and take drastic actions against law enforcement instruments who are abusing their responsibilities."

The Coalition has also lashed out at the South African government's decision to withdraw asylum from Zimbabwean refugees, under the pretence that the political and economic crises in Zimbabwe have been "resolved". The group said in a statement on Tuesday that the decision is "a great misrepresentation of the political developments in the country." A representative, Alana, explained to Newsreel on Tuesday that abuse of refugees is happening "against a backdrop of corruption at Home Affairs," where exiles that can pay R150 bribes are able to get crucial asylum papers.

"Home affairs officials still refuse to let humanitarian volunteers enter the building," she said, "and consequently the degree of corruption of officials and the levels of poverty of the people inside Home Affairs remains unknown."

At the same time, Amnesty International on Tuesday issued an alert for the safety of refugees in South Africa, after the last camp for victims of May's xenophobic violence was closed on Monday. The group said that violence against displaced persons attempting to return to local South African communities continues, "with police failing to accept that these crimes are part of a continuing pattern of xenophobic attacks." The organisation is now urging the South African government to honour its obligations towards those displaced by the xenophobic violence of last May, and called on the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner to intervene. - SW Radio Africa News