“[The South African] government has provided no leadership in
responding to Zimbabwean migration, its legal responses have been
inadequate, and its ability to address and support the livelihood needs of
Zimbabweans virtually non‐existent.”1
“The South African government, and organisations like the UNHCR, have
an obligation to protect refugees, as does the City of Johannesburg. They
have failed that mandate.”2
SAPS Gauteng spends approximately R 350 million per annum on
immigration policing. And this with no evidence that foreigners are
disproportionately involved in criminal activity.... For all of the time the
police spend chasing foreigners, they are convicted of crimes at a rate no
higher than the South African citizens amongst whom they live.3
“It’s not a ‘migration’ policy failure, it’s a ‘poverty alleviation’ policy
failure”4
1 T Polzer, South African Government and Civil Society Responses to Zimbabwean Migration, Southern African
Migration Project (SAMP) Policy Brief No 22, December 2008, page 16.
2 Sarah Hjalmarson of MSF, quoted in Noseweek, “Abuse or mercy?”, issue 120, Oct 2009.
3 Loren Landau, Forced Migration Studies Programme; “Police Commissioners Irresponsibly Inflate Numbers;
Blame Foreigners for Security Woes”; Press Release, 3 March 2010.
4 Interview, Paul Verryn, 5 March 2010.
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