The department of home affairs has “exceeded expectations” in its attempts to register Zimbabweans illegally in South Africa, says refugee rights activist Braam Hanekom, who has been among its fiercest critics.
Home Affairs offices across the country registered 254 802 people for the Zimbabwean Dispensation Project, which allows illegals to live, work, study and have access to basic health care in SA. The deadline was December 31.
In November 2007, Hanekom, 26, founded the NGO People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (Passop) when he was outraged that Zimbabwean refugee Adonis Musati had reportedly died while queueing for asylum documents for days without food at the Home Affairs office on Cape Town’s Foreshore.
Then the department processed only 20 asylum applications daily, forcing as many as 1000 refugees to camp outside its offices.
Hanekom campaigned against the department, becoming its fiecest critic. But on Monday he was quick to praise its staff, claiming that all who queued for the dispensation in the Western Cape had been served.
“The officials worked hard, it was a mammoth task and they had limited time,” he said.
Hanekom was speaking from Passop’s new offices, around the corner from the Wynberg Home Affairs office where he spent the past week monitoring and advising hundreds of Zimbabweans on their applications.
Born in Harare and fluent in Shona, Hanekom has become the go-to person for thousands of concerned Zimbabweans in the Western Cape.
As the deadline loomed, he was frequently found surrounded by dozens of Zimbabweans concerned about their submissions. And he lamented that a large number of the applications would not be up to scratch.
“The quality of submissions will be bad. Clearly the standard of applications went down and there’s a huge amount of work ahead for the department,” he said.
Hanekom also criticised the department’s communication with Zimbabweans.
“It’s a good document but a lot of Zimbabweans didn’t really know what they were applying for. People didn’t quite understand the benefits and some don’t want to be forced to return after four years…” he said.
He advised those who had missed or ignored the deadline to consider applying for asylum, although he warned that “people need to know what they are applying for”.
Hanekom said he was hopeful that at least 220 000 Zimbabweans who applied for the dispensation would be accepted.
Looking to the year ahead, Hanekom fears that possible 2011 elections in Zimbabwe could lead to a fresh influx of refugees to South Africa.
“Nobody can deny that the past few elections have been violent. It’s important that the end of the deportation moratorium does not coincide with elections,” he said.
Hanekom said he was pleased Passop had found new premises, adding: “We were previously working out of my mom’s house.” - Cape Times