Rights groups in South Africa fighting to stop asylum seekers from working and studying

Rights groups in South Africa have begun fighting efforts by that country to stop asylum seekers from working and studying, a policy that would further tighten screws on Zimbabwean exiles already facing deportation and harassment from SA's law enforcement agents, Daily News reported.

The South African government is instituting a review of its policies on the minimum rights to which immigrants are entitled.

South African Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni says the review could be done in a year.

“We are hoping that we will be able to process whatever amendment within the next year, that is the next sitting of the National Assembly,” Apleni said last week.

“In terms of the right to work, we are talking about asylum seekers — we currently have a process that is really not helpful. People come through our ports of entry and then are immediately issued with a section 23 permit. This enables you to present yourself to any of our refugee centres,” added Apleni.

But groups representing the rights of immigrants argue that such a move “without offering an alternative will have the effect of practically making it impossible for genuine asylum seekers to get protection, thus ultimately violating South Africa’s obligations under domestic and international law.”

Four rights groups, Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, Solidarity Peace Trust, Passop and Southern African Litigation Centre have taken a united stance on the matter, and have issued a joint statement stating their intention to fight the review.

“The decision would merely force more asylum seekers underground, thus making them liable to exploitation in this country,” the groups said.

The exact number of Zimbabweans living in South Africa legally and illegally is unknown, although immigrant rights groups estimate the figure at about three million.

Zimbabwe’s Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede recently told Parliament the figure was no more than a million, most of who could be affected by the review.

“The (rights) organisations believe that if carried out, any decision to revoke the right to work and study of asylum seekers will fly in the face of the Bill of Rights, and may be a subversion of the courts,” reads the group’s statement.

They cited the case of The (South African) Minister of Home Affairs and Others versus Watchenuka and Another in which a South African court ruled that: “Human dignity has no nationality. It is inherent in people — citizens and non-citizens alike — simply because they are human. And while that person happens to be in this country — for whatever reason — it must be respected, and is protected, by s10 of the Bill of Rights...The freedom to engage in productive work — even where that is not required in order to survive — is indeed an important component of human dignity.”

The groups said the decision to review work and study rights for asylum seekers revealed “more fundamental questions about the commitment of the South African government to protect non-nationals within its borders, as asylum seekers and refugees have already been stripped of the right for example to obtain a driving licence in this country.”

South Africa received more than 207 000 individual asylum applications in 2008 and a further 222 300 in 2009, representing nearly a four-fold rise in both years over levels seen in 2007, according to UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Most of these people are from crisis-torn countries such as Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Somalia.

The review of the policy comes as South Africa has started deporting undocumented Zimbabweans.

Earlier this month, a Daily News crew witnessed large streams of Zimbabweans being deported from South Africa.

Most of them were women and children who were dropped off at the tip of no man’s land between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Some said they are holders of genuine asylum papers waiting for permits to regularise their stay in Africa’s biggest economy.

Most of the people who were being deported said they planned on finding their way back to South Africa.

Many Zimbabweans entered South Africa illegally as they fled biting decade-long economic and political turmoil.

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