Displacements in Zimbabwe;
South Africa’s brutality to Immigrants
FreeAfrica (22 September 2003)

Since the early 1980s soon after ‘independence’, scores of Zimbabweans –– mainly from the Matabeleland and Midlands regions –– have found refuge in Zimbabwe’s neighbouring States, namely South Africa and Botswana. These immigrants, who have been commonly referred to as economic refugees (‘Amakwerekwere’ as some paranoid/xenophobic local residents of these host countries would insult/refer to them) have often been victims to such unfair displacement from their own communities in Zimbabwe, because of the brutal treatment of the Zimbabwe Zanu PF authorities who have always practiced tribal marginalisation, discrimination, torture, rape, and murder to mention a few of the hate War Crimes and Genocide subjected to them.

Planned and purposely inflicted underdevelopment by the tribal-biased Zimbabwean Zanu PF ‘government’ on the Matabeleland and Midlands regions (comprising mainly of the Ndebele people) has led to the people of these regions being virtually left with nothing in their own homes –– nothing in terms of jobs, as industries and potential investors have either been closed, relocated to Mashonaland or simple prevented from opening or investing in these ‘government’ hated regions. Today, Bulawayo, which stood as the industrial capital of Zimbabwe and as the second biggest city of the country is an open shell with more than 90% of the industries that operated in this city either having been closed or relocated to the ‘government’s’ favourable regions.

The route to Zimbabwe –– South Africa’s death trap for most Zimbabweans.
Map source: New York Times

The Zanu PF government has masterminded and succeeded a plan that has left most of the children, young men and women of these regions without an education as most education institutions where either last developed and equipped 20years ago during the colonial government of Ian Smith or they secretly continue to enroll students through secret systematic and diplomatic tribal discrimination.

23 years down the line, Mugabe and his Zanu PF still appear confused and directionless as to what they really want for Zimbabwe. They have fraudulently enriched their own communities to capacity with new education institutions, industries, banks, good and well maintained roads and the luring of investors, the later of which now seems to be a difficult goal, as the Zanu PF criminal enterprise is finally unveiled. Now the communities that Mugabe and Zanu PF so much murdered and apparently lied for, find themselves in the same position as that of the previous victims they have always been reading about. Despite all that Mugabe and Zanu PF has done for such previously favoured communities, Mugabe now feels that he has done enough giving and sharing, and he now has taken the route of killing and victimizing anyone even from his own previously favoured communities, should they step on his and Zanu PF’s way to enrich and protect themselves from legal courses of Justice, by staying in power at whatever costs.

Although the routes of Mugabe and Zanu PF’s reign of terror may be misinterpreted in many ways as an only racial, economic or sovereign disturbance; the truth of the matter will remain that as long as Zimbabweans are divided and in denial of Zanu PF’s tribal hatred divide policies that have kept Mugabe and Zanu PF in power for the past 23years, Mugabe and his Zanu PF shall continue to fool everyone all they want and they will continue to perpetrate their crimes in immunity until the truth is faced, exposed and acted upon by the victims.

Life in the Streets and homes of South Africa as an immigrant, legal or illegal
Often as subjects of gross violations and abuses such as in the cases mentioned above on Zimbabwe, communities will have no option or choice but to flee and risk anything or everything to cross into neighbouring or other States in the hope of securing a better and safer quality of life. Some Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa who spoke to FreeAfrica during the past week expressed their concern over the fact that their stay in South Africa now floated on the financial relationships they could secure with various corrupt State officials (the army, police force, and immigration officials) who collect “protection fees” from them so as to prolong their lengthy stay in the country. From information gathered by FreeAfrica, witnesses of such abuses of power by the South African authorities related to incidents where at times they have to enter into bi-weekly payment agreements with the corrupt officials and yet in most cases, just being caught walking on the streets minding your own business can make you a suspected illegal immigrant and in most cases one is man-handled by these unscrupulous and untrained police officers, without even being asked for your identity documents or given a chance to either explain yourself or to hear your Rights as every arresting officer is meant to explain before carrying out an arrest.

Immigrants in South Africa (especially black immigrants who are the most often targeted victims) spend their time ducking law enforcement agents, bribing them if caught, and then trying to deal with an intolerant and hostile local population which is not welcoming especially to black immigrants, whom they suspect to be the main cause of most of their local problems of unemployment and crime. Themba Sibanda (not his real name), a 22-year-old Zimbabwean immigrant who has endured the trials and tribulations of settling in South Africa’s downtown Hillbrow suburb explained to FreeAfrica how he got to and settled in South Africa. Sibanda says, “Life was difficult at home. I have my ‘A’ Level certificate with 10 points in Maths, Physics and Science. I cannot explain to you why I was not admitted to NUST (National University of Science and Technology) in Bulawayo. I had all the qualifications but I was told I could not be admitted for my course, so I got fed up and applied for a visitors’ visa to South Africa, which I got with great difficulty. I came to South Africa and I have overstayed my days because I have nothing to go back for in Zimbabwe. All possible jobs are in Harare and I cannot speak Shona. At least in South Africa I can speak Ndebele and I can understand Zulu well…” Our FreeAfrica team member then asked Sibanda if he had been caught by any of South Africa’s authorities and he said “Yes! Many times they have caught me, but I have to pay them at least R20 so they let me off, it’s now a trend for us here.”

Another witness who spoke also to FreeAfrica shared the following experience with us, “My passport had expired and I just put R50 inside the last stamped page of my passport and when the official opened it he just dropped the money on table and continued to stamp the passport.”

Zimbabwean deportees awaiting removal from South Africa.
Photo: New York Times

In our investigations, FreeAfrica unveiled yet more horrific experiences of treatment that immigrants from Zimbabwe and Mozambique (immigrants from these two countries are often the main targets of abuse by the local stereotype and xenophobic population including government officials) endure in their quest for refuge. In the Hillbrow suburb which has previously and often been labeled as South Africa’s crime capital, immigrants find cheaper and affordable accommodation close to the central business district and so they rent rooms and apartments, single and to share as families, but the nightmare of living in this particular suburb just like in any other crime infested community is that sleeping peacefully becomes a wish for dwellers of this community as apartments and rooms are raided and/or broken into at any time, any day and without notice, by the local police force and army. In most cases they raid residences in these areas in search of illegal immigrants but end up indiscriminately arresting everyone who is a suspected immigrant with or without identity documents (as when you have valid identity documents, you are told that they may be fake). Those who keep cash in their closets and wallets will often be pardoned from the particular raid after a bribe has taken effect. Those who have no cash will be thrown into a waiting Military truck to be ferried away to Lindela holding camp where they will await deportation or until they find a way of accessing money for bribery.

The mention of the name “Lindela” sends shivers down the spines of Hillbrow residents as those who have been to this camp have bitter and gory tales to relate. James (not his real name), a 28 year old former inmate at Lindela shared his experience with FreeAfrica team as follows “I bumped into two policemen near my Hillbrow apartment as I was walking home to go and take a nap for my afternoon break before going back to work in the evening. The policemen flagged me down and when they spoke to me in Zulu, I told them that I could not understand or speak Zulu. Immediately when I told them that in English, one of them insulted me saying that I am not a white person so I should not speak to them in English. They demanded my Identity document which I had left at my place and when I explained that to them, they told me to get into their car and without further enquires from them, I was told that I was in the country illegally and thus would be deported back to Mozambique or wherever I belong. I tried to plead with these police officers to give me a chance to go and show them my documents at home, but my plea fell on deaf ears. I was taken to Lindela. The living conditions at the camp are unbearable and no one cares about the inmates’ welfare and health. Out of the multitudes of suspected illegal immigrants only a few are deported whilst the rest have to fork out bribes, sometimes more than R 500, and then released.”

The Editor’s Notes and Analysis
While it is understandable that every Government’s Ministry of Home Affairs or Immigration has a duty to regulate and account for the identity and security of persons resident in any given country, the procedures and the laws that are used to enforce such regulations and protections for the State should be well spelt out and transparent especially to the law enforcement agents i.e. the Police force, the Army and the Immigration Officials who have to carry out the duties of enforcing such laws and regulations in public interests.

Our investigations into the above cases of immigrant abuses show that either the law enforcement agents are ignorant and therefore do not care of the laws they already know or they simply are not trained to deal with suspects in such situations. The issue of evident corruption and the apparent xenophobia attitudes amoungst the law officers and the general local population is also of major concern. These are issues that decision makers (the government leadership) can bring to an end if they wanted.

Causes of such influxes of immigrants into South Africa are well documented and the South African government is well aware of them, the nature of the brutal Zanu PF ‘government’ of Zimbabwe is well known by the South Africa government, notably President Thabo Mbeki who so openly has gone out of his way to frustrate Zimbabwean victims by telling them and the international community that only Zimbabweans can solve their problems –– while he (Mbeki) spends millions of South African people’s taxes paying for Mugabe’s management disasters in electricity, trade and other.

Thabo Mbeki seems to believe that Mugabe’s way of dealing with African citizens (especially those of the country you rule) are the best. One wonders how long it is before South Africans are subjects to the kind of brutal rule that the Zimbabweans are now suffering. It’s only a matter of time before Mbeki graduates from his lessons (well taught to him by a professional teacher, Robert Mugabe)

Either Mugabe has something yet to be unveiled on Mbeki and the other African despots, that makes them sing Mugabe’s tune at every turn, or they are all just a very risky gang of leaders/rulers for the vulnerable African citizens.