convicted of crimes at a rate no higher than the South African citizens amongst
whom they live.55
According to Landau,��the Gauteng police are dramatically inflating the real number of
migrants in Gauteng – claiming there are 3 million when in fact the evidence points to there
being around 600,000 ‐ and are exaggerating the criminality of migrants, in order to
scapegoat them for the police’s failure to effectively combat more serious crimes. Police in
Limpopo have made similar complaints, telling Parliament that the government doesn't
budget for the "millions" of illegal immigrants who have to be policed out of sheer necessity.56
This scapegoating of immigrants as both criminal and therefore wasteful of state policing
resources is dangerous in view of the xenophobia already prevalent in South Africa.
Even as the police complain about the already exorbitant costs of migrants to the police force,
announcements have been made of an escalation in border policing. Four additional
companies of police and army are to be deployed along the Mozambique and Zimbabwe
borders to control “illegal immigrants”, who will be arrested and charged with R1,000 bail
money.57 Very few undocumented migrants will be able to pay this money, meaning that
South Africa’s policing budget is destined to be used even more extensively to cover the costs
of intercepting, locking up and deporting immigrants.
D.
Life of Zimbabweans in Central Johannesburg
The largest grouping of Zimbabweans is undoubtedly in greater Johannesburg, where around
600,000 Zimbabweans live. The greatest density of Zimbabweans is in the dead centre of the
city, where MSF estimates more than 30,000 Zimbabweans live within a relatively small
area.58
This area encompasses the well‐known CMM, but the 1,500 Zimbabweans currently residing
at this church building are the veritable tip of the iceberg, representing: 5% of central
Johannesburg Zimbabweans; 0.3% of Zimbabweans in greater Johannesburg; and around
0.1% of Zimbabweans in South Africa.
The CMM, under Rev Paul Verryn, has drawn intense media interest in recent times, with
comments ranging from extremely positive to extremely negative. Understanding events and
life at the CMM needs an understanding of the greater context in which Zimbabweans arriving
in Johannesburg find themselves. In March 2010, the authors made on‐site visits to buildings
in downtown Johannesburg to assess the living conditions of some of the other 30,000
Zimbabweans in that area. It is clear that life in the big city is extremely precarious and
unpleasant for many.
In the so‐called “China Square” building, which houses mainly Zimbabweans, hundreds of
tenants crowd into floor after floor of tiny rooms, subdivided by blankets on ropes to give
families or groups limited privacy from one another. The notice board downstairs is filled
with scraps of paper advertising: “Girl wanted to share bed”, or “Guy wanted to share bed”.
The going rate to quite literally share a 70 cm wide mattress on the floor is R200 per month.
55 Loren Landau, press release, ibid. 3 March 2010, our italics.
56 Lizel Steenkamp, News24; “Immigrants put strain on police”; 3 March 2010.
57 The Zimbabwean; “SA army along the Zim‐Moz border”, 9 March 2010
58 Interview, MSF, 2 March 2010, Johannesburg.
22
Select target paragraph3
Add to table of contents