Plight of refugees in focus

by Letters Editor · Published July 26, 2012 · Updated July 20, 2012

Writers name withheld

Thank you for sharing the sad story of Vanneaux Kongolo (�How Home Affairs broke refugee in SA, July 4). This tragedy should bring more attention to the plight of many African migrants who have come to South Africa in search of a better life, in particular those with skills to benefit themselves, this country and the country they have left.

"...all leave Matatiele with only a dream for a better life after everything they have endured: sleeping in the cold, having lost two or three days of work and bearing the cost of the trip." (Photo: Yannis Behrakis, Reuters, CNS)

Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma�s achievements at the Department of Home Affairs have been over-rated. Her administration has brought more misery to many migrants. Regional immigration bureaus, all aver the country, have become just reception windows that cannot even guarantee that your documents will be delivered to the head office in Pretoria. Hence everyone is told to keep a copy of the entire file before submission, for re-submission at request in case it gets lost.

The waiting time for renewal of permits has soared from about ten working days to a minimum of six months for many applicants.

Since April 2012 rumours have been circulating among the refugees, claiming that the government was planning to issue South African ID books to refugees with valid permits.

Matatiele, a small town at the border of Eastern Cape, KwaZulu- Natal and Lesotho, has become the new Mecca to which refugees from all over South Africa are heading, desperate to get a document that will free them from the bondage of a refugee permit.

Sub-zero temperatures at the foot of the Drakensberg mountains do not deter them from lining up before dawn, sometimes as early as midnight, and wait for the Home Affairs teams that arrive in the morning, delivering their services from 4×4 vehicles and portable computers. After a few scuffles among refugees, the lucky ones to be interviewed on a given day are finger-printed and receive a small bar-coded card bearing the name of the recipient and the emblem of South Africa. No explanations given as to the value and purpose of the card!

Congolese, Somalis, Pakistanis and other nationalities, all leave Matatiele with only a dream for a better life after everything they have endured: sleeping in the cold, having lost two or three days of work and bearing the cost of the trip.

What a surprise, then, to hear on Radio SAFM on July 9 the director-general of Home Affairs say that the entire exercise in Matatiele was aimed only at surveying refugees living near the border with Lesotho.

Why has the Department of Home Affairs waited for more than two months to give this clarification, and only when questioned about it? Those officials doing the survey in Matatiele surely knew all along that they were dealing with refugees coming from all over the country.

This Matatiele episode also serves to highlight how desperate refugees and migrants to South Africa are, and how the Department of Home Affairs cares less about what happens to them as individuals.