In the media
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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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11 May 2015
Eyewitness News
As lawyers for human rights demand access to more than 200 illegal immigrants arrested on Friday, government has denied that joint raids being carried out by the army, police and Home Affairs officials, are targeting foreigners.
Operation Fiela was launched during xenophobic attacks in different parts of the country several weeks ago.
So far, more than 700 people have been arrested during various raids, and this has drawn criticism from non-Government Organisations (NGOs).
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10 May 2015
Eyewitness News
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) say they are being denied access to more than 200 foreign nationals arrested during a raid on the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg this weekend.
235 people were arrested for being in the country illegally during a raid in the city center on Friday morning and lawyers for human rights says Home Affairs has denied its request to visit them as it is still processing their identities.
The organisation says it wants to probe the manner in which the foreign nationals were arrested as well as the reasons why they came to South Africa.
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8 May 2015
Mail & Guardian
South Africa is often branded as a country with a high incarceration rate. In certain respects, this is true. For with 290 people per 100 000 imprisoned, it has the highest incarceration rate in Africa. But there is much more to prison population rates than a national headcount of bodies behind bars.
About two-thirds of the South African prison population have been sentenced to prison. The remaining third are awaiting-trial detainees.
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6 May 2015
Times Live
The Department of Home Affairs has presented a number of reasons why it believed the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA’s) order that it must reopen the Port Elizabeth refugee reception office by July 1 was incorrect.
The department has applied to the Constitutional Court to set aside the SCA’s order made on March 25.
Refugee reception offices provide services to those who want to apply for asylum in South Africa.
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6 May 2015
Daily News
Home Affairs has its hands full tracking down hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants across South Africa – with only 700 investigating officers on the case.
Added to this, Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete has admitted that rogue elements within the department were hampering progress as they accepted bribes from foreigners hoping to avoid deportation.
Nosipho Shandu, acting manager for the KZN Home Affairs, said the province had eight entry points for foreigners including King Shaka International Airport and Durban and the Richards Bay harbours.
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5 May 2015
The Mercury
While King Goodwill Zwelithini’s proposal on how foreigners in areas under traditional leadership should be treated has been welcomed by a top criminologist, constitutional law experts say the plan will not fly.
Professor Johan Burger, of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said on Monday that the government should pay attention to the guidelines King Goodwill Zwelithini recently set out for foreigners in rural areas.
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25 April 2015
Al Jazeera
Reymond Mapakata was on his bicycle earlier this week, pedaling his way toward this city’s central business district. A few days before he’d received a phone call about a Zimbabwean furniture maker who’d been attacked by a South African mob, and Mapakata was on his way to investigate.
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22 April 2015
Judge for Yourself
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe suggested that refugee camps are the solution, despite South Africa having signed a UN agreement to protect foreign nationals. Judge Dennis Davis is joined by Patricia Erasmus, Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman and Dr Zweli Mkhize.
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22 April 2015
SABC News
Lawyers for Human Rights and the International Federation for Human Rights are calling on the government to reinforce their human rights-based legal framework in order to prevent and redress human rights violations against migrants.
Last week, in scenes reminiscent of 2008, xenophobic violence sparked off in Durban before spreading to other parts of the country.
Foreign nationals were attacked and their shops looted. So far, at least six people died, and thousands others were displaced.
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