South Africa: 'Tsunami' of Zim Refugees Floods Country
- From: "Zvakanaka" <lalapansi@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:34:41 +0200
South Africa: 'Tsunami' of Zim Refugees Floods Country
Cape Argus (Cape Town)
12 July 2007
Posted to the web 13 July 2007
Thabo Mabaso And Geoff Hill
Cape Town
The flood of refugees pouring over South Africa's northern border from
Zimbabwe has become "a tsunami" according to border police and Home Affairs
officers working the Limpopo River district.
And one of the country's premier institutes of migration research has warned
that South Africa does not have the capacity and will not be able to cope
with the fallout caused by an economic meltdown of its neighbour.
"It is nothing short of a tidal wave, a human tsunami," said one Home
Affairs officer, who asked not to be named.
But the Department of Home Affairs denied there had been any increase in the
flow of Zimbabweans into the country.
Loren Landau, the director of the University of Witwatersrand-based Forced
Migration Studies Programme (FMSP), told the Cape Argus that South Africa
faced a colossal problem if the situation in Zimbabwe continued to
deteriorate.
"This would be the first time that South Africa had encountered such a large
number of refugees. This would pose a huge challenge for the departments of
Home Affairs, Health, Housing, Social Development and Public Works," he
said.
"In South Africa there is no clear, co-ordinated strategy of emergencies of
this nature. The country does not have the capacity to respond to these
kinds of emergencies," Landau said.
The current crisis has resulted in serious food shortages, heavy-handed
police action against pro-democracy activists and the arrest of thousands of
business people over price controls that have depleted shelves across the
country.
As to the surge of illegal migrants, the Home Affairs official in the border
area said: "We are doing our best and we pick up those we can find, but the
numbers are too great.
"They cross along the whole length of the border, not just Beit Bridge, so
it could be 2 000, even 3 000 a night, maybe more.
"Whatever figure the government puts out is only a guess. You have to be
here to know the scale of things."
But Department of Home Affairs spokesman Jacky Mashapu denied yesterday that
there had been any increase in the flow of Zimbabweans across the border,
saying it was "business as usual".
"If there had been an increase and congestion, our people would have
reported it to us in Pretoria. They have not," he said.
Mashapu said the department was not preparing any contingency plans to deal
with problems stemming from the Zimbabwe crisis.
Landau said up to four million Zimbabweans were thought to be living in
South Africa.
"The increase in demand for housing that this predicted migration will pose
is bound to lead to conflicts with local communities. And, of course, if
large numbers of the refugees are without social assistance, this is bound
to lead to increases in crime," he said.
Landau called on the authorities to use the expertise of such countries as
Mozambique, as well as the UN High Commission for Refugees.
"South Africa needs a co-ordinated response in partnership with the UNHCR
and other countries," he said.
Henri Boshoff, a military analyst with the Institute for Security Studies,
said some provinces were already beginning to feel the effects of the rising
tide of migrants.
OK Zimbabwe chief executive Willard Zireva has been arrested over claims
that stores failed to cut prices, the Zimbabwe Herald reports on its website
today.
.
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