In the media
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12 May 2015
Times Live
Civil society has lashed at government’s Operation Fiyela taking place across the country as inappropriate and violating the rights of people.
Speaking at a media briefing hosted by Section 27‚ in Braamfontein‚ Stephen Faulkner of the People's Coalition Against Xenophobia told reporters that the behaviour of government over the past two weeks was inappropriate and would not solve to address the xenophobia in the country.
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12 May 2015
BizNews
Demonstrators carry placards during a march against xenophobia in downtown JohannesburgJOHANNESBURG, May 12 (Reuters) – South Africa temporarily halted the deportation of 200 foreigners on Tuesday after a legal challenge by a human rights group, which said authorities were unfairly targeting them following anti-migrant riots in which seven people were killed.
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12 May 2015
Globe and Mail
When the South African government called out the army in the midst of a wave of deadly attacks on foreign migrants last month, most people assumed the soldiers would be deployed to protect the foreigners.
Instead the troops – more than 300 of them – have been increasingly deployed to support late-night raids by police hunting for foreigners who lack legal documents. The result: hundreds of foreigners detained without charges and without access to lawyers. Most are vulnerable migrants from some of Africa’s poorest countries.
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12 March 2015
The Daily Vox
An unconfirmed number of foreign nationals are still being held at the Johannesburg Central Police Station following police raids on the Central Methodist Church and other locations across the city centre last Friday.
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12 May 2015
The Telegraph
The South African government could have further deaths on its hands if it forcibly removes African asylum seekers rounded up as part of its response to the xenophobic violence that broke out last month, human rights lawyers have warned.
Instead of protecting those vulnerable to attack, the authorities have "deployed the full force of state machinery to hunt them down", Wayne Ncube, from Lawyers for Human Rights, said.
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12 May 2015
The Citizen
An urgent application will be heard on Tuesday in the South Gauteng High Court in which lawyers for Human Rights will seek an order granting legal representatives access to foreign national detainees.
According to the lawyers, they have been repeatedly denied access to consult with those arrested during the raids last week Friday and most detainees still have not had the opportunity to speak to an attorney since their arrest on that morning, despite a court order requiring that access be granted.
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12 May 2015
Global Post
After anti-foreigner attacks last month left at least eight people dead, South Africa’s army was deployed to “hot spots” of xenophobic violence, a high-profile move meant to signal that the government was taking the problem seriously.
The attacks appeared to stop. But now the military, alongside police and immigration officials, are targeting foreigners with raids and mass arrests, explaining that they are trying to root out undocumented immigrants and crack down on crime.
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12 May 2015
News 24
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) asked that its urgent application relating to securing access to a group of people arrested during police and SA National Defence Force raids in Johannesburg be stood down on Tuesday for a possible settlement.
The case was stood down until 11:30 after a request by LHR advocate Julie Harwood in the High Court in Johannesburg.
The possible settlement relates to a contempt of court order it had also wanted because police were allegedly not abiding by a court order made on Friday night allowed LHR access to those detained.
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12 May 2015
BBC
South Africa's high court has temporarily prevented the deportation of more than 300 undocumented migrants.
Rights activists have criticised the arrests of more than 700 suspected illegal migrants following recent deadly xenophobic violence.
Police say they made the arrests during crime prevention operations.
The authorities have been under pressure to both bring an end to the attacks on foreigners and to introduce tighter immigration controls.
'State-sponsored xenophobia'
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12 May 2015
Times Live
South African rights activists on Tuesday criticised the government for arresting about 1,000 suspected illegal immigrants in the wake of an outburst of deadly xenophobic violence when mobs hunted down foreign nationals.
Immigrant workers from Zimbabwe, Malawi and other African countries were targeted in weeks of unrest that left at least seven people dead and forced thousands to flee their homes.
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