CAPE TOWN, June 27 — More than 500 Zimbabweans have gathered outside their country’s consulate in Cape Town seeking government-assisted repatriation, as fears grow over anti-immigrant demonstrations planned for June 30 that have prompted many foreign nationals to seek to leave South Africa.
Anti-immigrant groups have set an unofficial June 30 deadline for undocumented foreign nationals to voluntarily leave the country, a call that has often been accompanied by threats of violence and physical assault directed at foreign nationals, regardless of their immigration status.
Families carrying plastic-wrapped suitcases crowded into the Zimbabwean Consulate and surrounding streets and a nearby park as the number of people continued to grow.
Some had initially slept on the pavement outside the consulate before moving into the consulate building as space became available. Buses periodically picked up some nationals for repatriation while more people continued to arrive.
Humanitarian organizations distributed food and other aid at the site as local, provincial and national governments provided no assistance.
Children, including infants, were seen outside in the cold as temperatures were expected to drop and heavy rainfall was forecast for Sunday.
Humanitarian organizations warned of a worsening humanitarian situation, citing serious health risks as hundreds of people remained tightly packed together without adequate sanitation, ablution or hygiene facilities.
Zimbabwean national Mgcini Sibanda outside the consulate said he wanted to leave South Africa because he lacked documents and a job.
“I don’t have documents, the reason why is because it’s not easy to get documents if you’re in Zimbabwe because it’s too expensive. That’s why most people don’t have documents.
Especially passports, it’s too expensive. When we come here, again we struggle to get a work permit,” he said. Similar scenes were seen outside the Malawi Consulate in Johannesburg, where hundreds of Malawian nationals gathered seeking repatriation assistance ahead of the June 30 deadline.
During a media briefing on Friday, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola said immigration laws must be enforced by immigration authorities and other relevant state agencies, not by private individuals or organizations.
“What is becoming problematic for us internationally, is the groups that move from house to house enforcing the law and the violent protests sometimes that accost some of the foreign nationals to produce whatever form of documentation,” Lamola said.
Outside Parliament in Cape Town on Saturday, several South Africans gathered for an anti-xenophobia protest, rejecting the unofficial deadline and attacks targeting foreign nationals.
Thuli Nkadimeng, executive director of the African Inclusion Coalition (AIC), the convener of the gathering, said the organization’s memorandum of demands, to be handed over to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, calls for the protection of targeted foreign nationals and the prosecution of those responsible for the attacks.
“The first is the protection of foreign nationals who are being victimized currently. We don’t want reactive measures from the government, we want preventative measures especially with such an important day like the 30th of June,” she said.
“We want prosecution for individuals who have been seen and shown to incite violence, commit violence, and brutalize members of the community- documented or undocumented.
It’s not their job, they’re taking SAPS responsibility into their hands,” she added. Meanwhile, about 100 people in the coastal town of Hermanus protested against undocumented foreign nationals on Saturday, calling for South Africans to be hired instead of foreign nationals.
Police fired stun grenades after protesters refused police orders to dispose of dangerous weapons. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
