xenophobia

The fears come after Atteridgeville residents attacked two Somali spaza shops on Monday night.

The attacks occurred after security workers, contracted by the Tshwane Metro Council, tore down 550 shacks at Itireleng settlement, next to Laudium, on Monday.

The shacks were demolished after the landowners, Pretoria Portland Cement, obtained a court order in December to have the land invaders evicted.

The Western Cape government is more concerned about the media than the well-being of the De Doorns xenophobia victims. This is according to People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP).

In a press statement, PASSOP says that Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille, and her MECs, have not yet apologised to the refugees for the pain they have suffered.

The organisation further says, "Provincial government... is concerned only for some miraculous reintegration in order to avoid further embarrassment."

The South African Red Cross Society has launched a R2 million appeal for emergency support for xenophobia refugees at De Doorns in the Western Cape.

The organisation is also calling on all South Africans to stand together for humanity.

The appeal comes as negotiators meet representatives of the local community in a bid to resolve tensions.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, has announced that his department is finalising an integration strategy encompassing induction training for asylum seekers and refugees.

Gigaba, who maintains that South Africa has no provision for the ‘basic induction’ of foreigners, says the proposed training will provide answers to such questions as “what is SA, what is its constitution, human rights, languages, and what type of people do we have?”

The 90-day visa waiver is the result of a bilateral agreement concluded between home affairs departments in Zimbabwe and South Africa(1). In terms of this arrangement, Zimbabweans who wish to enter into South Africa are issued with a permit at the South African border post which allows them to remain in the country for 90 days. If they wish to work while in the country, they are required to inform an immigration officer, who will endorse the permit. After 90 days, there is the possibility of renewal for a further 90 days at a Home Affairs office at the cost of R425.

The ‘Report of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion and the Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions’ investigates discrimination in public higher education institutions, with a particular focus on racism, and makes appropriate recommendations to combat discrimination and promote social cohesion.

Human rights organisations have welcomed the release of more than 300 Zimbabwean refugees, saying their arrests have been unreasonable.

In a joint press statement, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and the AIDS Law Project (ALP), point out that, "Dropping the spurious charges of loitering strengthens our conviction that homeless people are being targeted just because they are homeless and vulnerable."

The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) has warned that restricting migration is not the solution to South Africa's problems, and could even hamper the country's development.

It its newly-released report, CoRMSA says that as the economy slow down, with South Africans beginning to lose jobs, there will be growing pressure for even more restrictive migration policies.

South Africa’s high levels of xenophobia are partially a result of the violent past of apartheid. This is according to Maxine Reitzes, an associate at the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS).

Reitzes points out that, “Violence has been evidently accepted as a way to sort out problems.”

Reitzes, who was addressing a seminar on xenophobia in Johannesburg, argued that people were defined during apartheid by who they were not and this carried over beyond 1994.

The Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA), have warned that the proposed prohibitions on foreign land ownership promote the perception that non-nationals are not welcome in the country.

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CoRMSA_FMSP_Submission.doc