Zimbabwe exiles call for Lindela reforms

Zimbabwe exiles call for Lindela reforms

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN exiles have petitioned the South African government to close down or take under its control the notorious Lindela Repatriation Centre where two Zimbabweans died recently.

In submissions sent to the South African Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affaris, the SA-based Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) also urged the South African authorities to strengthen security for asylum seekers fleeing persecution.

Gabriel Shumba, the executive director of ZEF urged “South Africa to be "proud to be host to potential victims of genocide, torture and crimes against humanity, not only in Africa but in the world as a whole."

Shumba lamented the failure by South African authories to grant asylum status and protection to many Zimbabweans, with recent statistics indicating that under 20 Zimbabweans have successfully applied and been granted refugee status since 1994.

Said Shumba: "We are shocked that at a time when South Africa is contemplating financially bailing out Robert Mugabe, people who are running away from his misrule into South Africa are not even granted basic humanitarian support, dignity or medical attention in Lindela, but are instead welcome to possible death."

He said ZEF was in possession of "irrefutable evidence" of past and ongoing human rights violations bedeviling asylum seekers and refugees seeking sanctuary in South Africa.

"Issues of concern include the asylum seeking procedural hurdles, the gruelling repatriation process, cases of ill-treatment, torture, inhuman and degrading
treatment, lack of sanitary facilities, lack of timeous medical attention, deaths, allegations of sexual molestation, a legal framework that needs review and lack of basic humanitarian support.

"Even sadder is that to many Zimbabweans in South Africa, Lindela has become synonymous with corruption, terror, torture and possible death for exiles awaiting deportation. Even more tragic is the fact that those who are deported don't deserve to be sent back to the horror in Zimbabwe,” he said.

ZEF's submissions includes a call for the SA authorities to takes measures to strengthen the security of asylum seekers and refugees, the setting up of adequately staffed Refugee Reception Offices country-wide and the education of Home Affairs officials on the rights and obligations of asylum seekers and refugees.

ZEF also called on the government to urgently consider placing Lindela Repatriation Centre under its direct control and administration instead of outsourcing it to the private sector.

Lindela has become a sore point for Zimbabwe's estimated two million immigrant population in South Africa following mounting allegations of abuse and unreported deaths.

Last week, South Africa's Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula suspended two officials at the facility after she was not told about the death of two illegal Zimbabwean immigrants -- pregnant Alice Chumba and Mcabangeli Mlambo who both died in July.
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