Fri 3 Sep 2010
A human rights organisation has condemned the decision by South Africa to withdraw the special status granted to illegal Zimbabwean immigrants, saying deportations would endanger their lives.
The spokesperson for the Global Zimbabwe Forum in South Africa, Luke Zunga, told News24 that it was premature for South Africa to make such a decision as a lot of Zimbabweans face imminent persecution.
“Zimbabwe is not yet back to normal as the situation remains violent. There is no settlement in that country. It’s unfortunate that South Africa is listening to its brothers in Zimbabwe and that doesn’t help us. Both countries are pretending that things are fine and this is to their own convenience,” said Zunga.
South African government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday the country will begin deportations after December 31.
The announcement brings to an end an April 2009 amnesty that allowed Zimbabweans who had fled the country’s economic meltdown and political violence to stay in the country without passports and visas.
Zunga said South Africa should have waited until elections were held in Zimbabwe, as it would then be easy to ascertain the stability in that country.
“There is still a lot of tension in Zimbabwe and that is why it is important for South Africa to wait until end of elections.
“As far as I see it, this is another way for South Africa and the SADC (Southern African Development Community) to prolong the stay of President Robert Mugabe. They are pretending to solve Zimbabwe’s problems and yet their intention is to extend Mugabe’s stay in the government of Zimbabwe. It’s high time they realised that Zimbabwe’s problems are centred on Mugabe and should therefore, work towards solving that,” said Zunga.
According to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed in September 2008 which led to the creation of a unity government in February 2009, Zimbabwe is expected to hold elections next year. Previous elections in the country have seen a lot of violence resulting in many being killed and injured.
“Violent structures still exist in Zimbabwe and it’s unfortunate that these structures are made up of people who after beating and exposing people to torture, they are still protected by the police. These people persecute, abduct and beat up people and are not arrested.
“South Africa doesn’t seem to understand how Mugabe is controlling that country. We are bound to see even more of this violence when election time comes.”
Zunga said most Zimbabweans were likely to flock back into South Africa a few days after being deported.
(Source)

