About three million Zimbabweans are believed to be in South Africa and most of them are without the requisite documentation to live in that country. The economic refugees face deportation after the government of that country lifted a moratorium on the expulsion of foreign nationals.
Zimbabweans had been given until the end of last month to regularise their stay, but humanitarian organisations, warn that continued statements warning on the impending deportations were stoking tensions that could ultimately reignite xenophobic flames.
Africa Project for Participatory Society (APPS) and People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty (Passop) last Thursday launched a report entitled “Enquiry concerning South African residents’ perception of deportation and the Zimbabwe Documentation Project”, which urged clarity on the issue, advising the government to come up with a better method of dealing with migrants that excluded mass removals.
“The strong correlation between mass-deportation raids and xenophobic violence, as was witnessed in 2008, compels us to urge the government for a more inclusive and carefully designed policy that strictly excludes the possibility of mass deportations,” reads the report.
Zimbabweans in the neighbouring country were given until the end of July to regularise their stay in South Africa and this was further extended to the end of this month, with the threat of forced removals looming.
The organisation said the government strategy after the expiry of the moratorium was vague and unclear, thus raising tensions and anxiety in the affected communities.
According to the survey 47% of the respondents were contemptuous of foreigners whom they blamed for overcrowding, unemployment and lack of opportunities.
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“(A) significant number of respondents, 51%, believed that mass deportations would result in a violent backlash and view deportation as ineffective,” the report reads.
“Hence, the research concludes that the majority of respondents believe that mass deportation is not only inhumane but ineffective and see that the community would most likely respond with violence, which is made into a concern for the South African community as well.”
The two organisations, therefore, concluded that the most feasible solution to fight off xenophobic attacks is to grant long-term residents permanent resident status.
