South Africa: So near and yet so far

While there have been reports of an increase in the number of Zimbabweans entering and leaving South Africa legally because of the recent introduction of the 90 day visa waiver for Zimbabweans by the Department of Home Affairs in March, refugee service providers have observed that illegal entry into South Africa by Zimbabwean economic migrants has continued to escalate, with many Zimbabwean asylum seekers still opting to jump the border and apply for asylum once already in the South Africa, rather than entering the legitimate way. Mundeta

The 90 day visa waiver was the result of a bilateral agreement concluded between Home Affairs Departments from Zimbabwe and South Africa.[1] In terms of this new arrangement Zimbabweans who wish to enter into South Africa are issued with a sticker at the South African border post, allowing 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.

A Zimbabwean can remain in the Republic for a maximum of 90 days with the possibility of renewal for a further 90 days at a Home Affairs Office at the cost of R425. Renewal is possible only once; however instead of renewing the permit, one has the option of leaving South Africa before the end of the 90 days, and re-entering the country later. Upon entry, they can be issued with a new 90 day permit. Zimbabweans are allowed to enter and leave South Africa as many times as they wish, receiving new visitors permits.[2]

Similar practice is followed in all ten Southern African countries and South Africa has been widely applauded in human rights circles for finally coming on board. This move is in line with the Draft SADC Protocol on the Movement of Persons which promotes free movement of people within the Southern Africa region in order to achieve interdependence and integration of the Southern Africa, with a view to building an African Economic Community in the future.

Through this 90 day visa waiver, one of the goals of the Ministry of Home Affairs was to ease the pressure on Refugee Reception offices which receive thousands of applications for asylum from Zimbabwean applicants who are often economic migrants, and not refugees as defined by the Refugees Act.[3] In the words of the new Minister of Home Affairs Nkosazana Dhlamini-Zuma:
“International law obliges you to process an asylum seeker until they have exhausted all the avenues in South Africa… Our problem is the portion of people who say they are asylum seekers because this is the only way of legalising their stay.”[4]
Home Affairs also hoped to more effectively control movement between South Africa and Zimbabwe, and provide a disincentive for illegal entry into South Africa. [5] However refugee service providers, including Refugee Aid Organization and Medicins Sans Frontiers, have observed that many Zimbabwean asylum seekers continue to circumvent the new system.

“In our research in Musina, a home affairs official we interviewed observed that as long as the 90 day permit has to be stamped into a passport or emergency travel document, legal entry into South Africa remains inaccessible to Zim asylum seekers because passports and emergency travel documents are expensive to acquire in Zimbabwe,” says Claudia Serra, Director of Refugee Aid Organization, “Also, banks and employers have only recently started to accept and recognize asylum seeker permits, so people are hesitant to try and explain new documentation to them.”
In the absence of a mass education campaign within the refugee community to clarify some of the misperceptions among some Zimbabwean asylum seekers on how the new system works, and also broadly clarification on what the difference between a work permit and an asylum seeker permit is, government’s goals are being achieved with limited success in relation to asylum seekers.

“I will continue to use the asylum seeker permit because on the new permit I can only stay in the country for 90 days, and that is it for the year. Yet, I sell baskets, and would like to be able to get in and out of South Africa throughout the year,” says a Durban-based Zimbabwean economic migrant.

“Out of a group of 60 women I trained at the Methodist Church in Johannesburg early this month, only 1 participant knew what an asylum seeker permit was. The rest were under the impression that it was a type of work permit,” says Claudia Serra of the Refugee Aid Organization.

Meanwhile Home Affairs has been silent on its promise to introduce a Special Dispensation permit for Zimbabweans, as announced on 3 April 2009 by Immigration Director General Jackie McKay. Since the Special Dispensation Permit would not require the applicant to have travel documents, and specifically caters for constituents of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, it would most likely achieve government’s purpose of controlling movement between the two countries, and provide a viable alternative for the majority of Zimbabwean economic migrants who apply for refugee status in South Africa.

[1] Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) Newsletter; Edition 14; 8th April 2009
[2] Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) Newsletter; Edition 14; 8th April 2009
[3] Act 180 of 1998:
“3. Subject to Chapter 3, a person qualifies for refugee status for the purposes of this
Act if that person-
(a) owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted by reason of his or her race, tribe, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, is outside the country of his or her nationality and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country, or, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his or her former habitual residence is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it; or

(b) owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing or disrupting public order in either a part or the whole of is or her country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his or her place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge elsewhere:
(c) is a dependant of a person contemplated in paragraph (a) or (b)

[4] Minister Dhlamini-Zuma South African Government Information “Transcript of interaction by Minister of Home Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma with Pretoria Press Club, Pretoria” (Comments from the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs) http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2009/09052609351001.htm [accessed 23 June 2009]
[5] “What we are trying to do is regulate access to South Africa by our neighbours because the more people come through legitimate ports of entry the more we can regulate and monitor access to and from South Africa.” South African Government Information “Transcript of interaction by Minister of Home Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma with Pretoria Press Club, Pretoria” (Comments from the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs) http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2009/09052609351001.htm [accessed 23 June 2009]