South Africa refugee horror exposed

South Africa refugee horror exposed

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By Agencies

FOREIGNERS are regularly detained at South Africa's Lindela Detention Centre outside Krugersdorp for longer than the permitted 30 days, the SA Human Rights Commission hearings on xenophobia heard this week.

Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh of Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) said non-compliance with the Immigration Act seemed to be the norm at the centre, run by a private company on behalf of the department of home affairs.

The three-day hearing which ends Wednesday was jointly chaired by the commission and six members of Parliament's portfolio committee on foreign affairs. The findings will guide what action Parliament will take on the problem of xenophobia. Last month, 176 people were detained at Lindela for longer than 30 days - with an average stay of 39 days.

She said South Africa was not living up to its legal obligations in terms of refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. Ramjathan-Keogh further submitted that 25 bodies of foreigners who died after arrest were still lying in the mortuary at Leratong Hospital, near the centre, which had referred them.

She also submitted that the group had investigated 16 deaths at the centre last year, which Lindela attributed to pre-existing conditions, such as HIV/Aids. The LHR found many of the deaths due to meningitis and pneumonia.
Ramjathan-Keogh said there did not appear to be enough of an attempt to trace families and the process was hampered by a tendency for people to give false names when they were arrested.

At the Beit Bridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe, people were regularly detained for between one hour and three days under a tree surrounded by a fence. Men, women and children were held together and there were no toilet facilities. She said 1 000 Zimbabweans were deported during the three days she was in the area monitoring in September. Ramjathan-Keogh also submitted that airlines employed private security officials to detain and deport people who arrived in the country without the necessary paperwork to avoid paying penalties.

These people were held in windowless offices with no furniture, water or toilets. She lauded a recent Pretoria High Court ruling that in future children must be treated under the Child Care Act with access to all the relevant services, whether they were South African or not. Previously, children were treated as adults and deported.

She said the government has all the necessary legislation in place, but is not living up to its own laws. - Sapa
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