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South Africa Delays Deportation of Zimbabwean Migrants

   Lisa Schlein | Geneva  13 January 2011
   An  immigration  official  addresses  Zimbabweans as they queue in the
   rain  outside  immigration  offices  in downtown Johannesburg, as they
   attempt  to  become  legal  before  what  they  fear will be a wave of
   deportations, 15 Dec 2010

Photo: AP

   An  immigration  official  addresses Zimbabweans as they queue outside
   immigration  offices  in  downtown  Johannesburg  (file photo â 15 Dec
   2010)

   The  South  African  government  says it is extending its deadline for
   deporting   irregular   Zimbabwean   migrants   until   July  31.  The
   Geneva-based International Organization for Migration says it welcomes
   this  extension  and  is ready to assist Zimbabweans who are forced to
   leave South Africa.

   South  Africa  says the moratorium for deporting irregular migrants to
   Zimbabwe  will  be  lifted  on  August 1st. It says this will give the
   migrants more time to gather the documents they need to legalize their
   status.
   The  extension of the moratorium also will give the Department of Home
   Affairs more time to process applications.
   The  South  African government ran a campaign to regularize Zimbabwean
   migrants from September until the end of December.
   The International Organization for Migration says it fears hundreds of
   thousands  of  irregular  migrants  could  face deportation from South
   Africa.
   IOM  spokeswoman,  Jemini  Pandya, tells VOA there is an estimated 1.5
   million Zimbabwean migrants in the country. But, fewer than 276,000 or
   about  one-sixth  of the irregular migrant population have applied for
   legal status.
   âIt  is  hard  to  know  exactly  why not more have actually applied,â
   Pandya  said.  âIt could also be because they simply did not manage to
   get  the  paper  work  that  they  needed  in  order  to  submit their
   applications  because  one  of  the  things  they  also  do  need is a
   passport,  a  Zimbabwean  passport. And, in Zimbabwe itself there is a
   backlog  of  passports that needed processing and the last I was aware
   was  that  at the start of this year there were no new passports being
   issued due to some technical issues.â Â
   Pandya says the reprieve on deportations will allow those migrants who
   have  registered  for  the  legalization  program  to  get hold of the
   relevant paper work.
   In  preparation for the anticipated deportations, she says IOM and its
   partners  are  pre-positioning  food and shelter supplies at reception
   centers at the Beitbridge and Plumtree border crossings in Zimbabwe.
   âIn  the  past,  these  reception centers provide not just shelter and
   food,  but  also medical assistance,â she  added. âIrregular migrants
   are  often  in poor health and need health care as well as information
   and   advice  and  referral  on  HIV/AIDS  assistance.  And,  finally,
   transport assistance for them to get back homeâ¦What happens when they
   are  deported, they are taken to the border and left at the border and
   very  often  people  do not have the means to get back to their homes.
   What  IOM  will  be  doing  is providing transport assistance to their
   final destinations for those who have no means.â Â
   As  part  of  its  humanitarian  and  protection assistance operation,
   Pandya  says  IOM is working to raise awareness among the police about
   the  migrantsâ  legal  rights. She says the agency is informing police
   officials  they  are  not  to  arrest or deport the migrants until the
   moratorium on deportations runs out at the end of July.

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