Human rights groups call for government rethink on immigrants campaign

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.

“We are asking for a complete rethink of Operation Fiyela. We believe it wholly inappropriate to organise a national campaign such as Operation Fiyela‚ where instead of tackling the root causes of crime‚ government is harassing and arresting people on a mass scale‚ people believed to be‚ not actually‚ undocumented visitors to our country‚” Faulkner said.

On May 8 police accompanied by the army and private security raided the Methodist Church in the Johannesburg City Centre and an adjacent building at night and arrested between 300 and 400 people. Among those arrested were South Africans and women with children‚ the groups said. Most of the people arrested were kept in the Johannesburg Central police station and some were later taken to Lindela Deportation Centre. This angered the civil rights organisations as most of those detained were not given access to lawyers.

Lawyers For Human Rights say since the arrests‚ they have been able to speak to only two people to give them legal counsel.

Operation Fiyela was launched by the inter-ministerial committee following the xenophobic attacks that swept the country last month. Raids have been conducted in various places that police and government officials have called hot spots. Hundreds of people have been arrested in these operations and government has described its campaign as “yielding results”.