News / Africa
More than 800K Zimbabweans snubbed SA permits offer
22 Aug 2011 at 20:29hrs | Views
More than 800 000 asylum seekers from Zimbabwe snubbed South Africa's offer for work and study permits, local media has reported.
South Africa's department of home affairs, long accused of running a chaotic refugee management system and ill-treating immigrants, last year launched a special project to document illegal Zimbabwean immigrants, offering amnesty during which migrants, many of whom had initially sought refugee status, were invited to apply for permits.
But figures form the department shows that a large number of Zimbabweans spurned the offer for permits, while fresh refuge seekers from South Africa's northern neighbour have continued flocking in at a rate of about 5 000 per month to derail any hopes that the documentation project could help decongest Pretoria's refugee handling system.
"Zimbabwean nationals in the country currently (who) have section 22 permits (also known as Asylum Seeker Temporary Permits) is 849 988," the reports quote the department as saying. The figure is for applications received between 2008 and July 2011.
According to the reports 34 774 Zimbabweans have lodged new applications for asylum since December when the department closed applications for work, business and study permits under its Zimbabwean documentation project due for finalisation by month-end.
Only 275 762 people have applied for permits under the documentation project under which the department has significantly lowered the bar to allow Zimbabweans to qualify for the documents.
While there are some genuine claimants for asylum among the Zimbabweans, a vast majority falls outside the Geneva Refugee Convention's definition of a refugee as someone forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence.
Many are ordinary job hunters or economic migrants claiming refugee status because it is easier to obtain Section 22 or Asylum Seeker Temporary Permits than work permits. Holders of Section 22 permits are allowed to work.
The flood of job seekers masquerading as asylum seekers has clogged South Africa's refugee management system much to the disadvantage of genuine refugees who have to wait for years before their cases can be heard.
The department, which has not deported illegal Zimbabwean immigrants while the documentation project was underway, has said once the project is completed Zimbabweans without permits would be deported, as would any illegal immigrants from other countries.
There are no exact figures of how many Zimbabweans live in South Africa, but various estimates put the figure at anything near two million people, which is about a sixth of Zimbabwe's total population of 12 million people.
South Africa's department of home affairs, long accused of running a chaotic refugee management system and ill-treating immigrants, last year launched a special project to document illegal Zimbabwean immigrants, offering amnesty during which migrants, many of whom had initially sought refugee status, were invited to apply for permits.
But figures form the department shows that a large number of Zimbabweans spurned the offer for permits, while fresh refuge seekers from South Africa's northern neighbour have continued flocking in at a rate of about 5 000 per month to derail any hopes that the documentation project could help decongest Pretoria's refugee handling system.
"Zimbabwean nationals in the country currently (who) have section 22 permits (also known as Asylum Seeker Temporary Permits) is 849 988," the reports quote the department as saying. The figure is for applications received between 2008 and July 2011.
According to the reports 34 774 Zimbabweans have lodged new applications for asylum since December when the department closed applications for work, business and study permits under its Zimbabwean documentation project due for finalisation by month-end.
While there are some genuine claimants for asylum among the Zimbabweans, a vast majority falls outside the Geneva Refugee Convention's definition of a refugee as someone forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence.
Many are ordinary job hunters or economic migrants claiming refugee status because it is easier to obtain Section 22 or Asylum Seeker Temporary Permits than work permits. Holders of Section 22 permits are allowed to work.
The flood of job seekers masquerading as asylum seekers has clogged South Africa's refugee management system much to the disadvantage of genuine refugees who have to wait for years before their cases can be heard.
The department, which has not deported illegal Zimbabwean immigrants while the documentation project was underway, has said once the project is completed Zimbabweans without permits would be deported, as would any illegal immigrants from other countries.
There are no exact figures of how many Zimbabweans live in South Africa, but various estimates put the figure at anything near two million people, which is about a sixth of Zimbabwe's total population of 12 million people.
Source - ZimOnline
