political reasons, often before or after elections of one kind or another. There is an urgent need for greater awareness among South African authorities of this reality, and possibly for a court ruling on whether political denial of access to food constitutes a “threat to physical safety” and is grounds for asylum. The authors acknowledge that many groups apart from Zimbabweans are claiming refuge in South Africa: since 1994, there has been a steady influx of people from all over Africa, including Rwanda, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Burundi, Uganda, Cameroon, Sudan and elsewhere. Many of the problems raised as affecting Zimbabweans in this report are common to all refugees.1 In the opinion of the authors, there are good reasons for focusing exclusively on Zimbabweans in this report. • Going by the number of deportees, Zimbabweans are now the second biggest group of foreign Africans in South Africa.2 Yet there is little formal information available on their situation. For example, the most recent and major study of asylum seekers and refugees released in November 2003, excluded Zimbabweans altogether.3 Their exclusion from this report and others is a consequence of how recently and rapidly the influx of Zimbabweans has occurred; since 2000, they have gone from being a negligible group to a formidable presence in South Africa. There have been cross border traders from Zimbabwe for the last twenty years, but their visibility was close to nil.4 • While numbers of Zimbabwean have escalated, very few are being officially recorded as political refugees. The Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) claim that very few Zimbabweans apply for asylum seeker status, using this as evidence that the vast majority of Zimbabweans are here for economic reasons and do not consider themselves as having left for political reasons.5 Others have claimed that Zimbabweans are finding it hard to access asylum seeker status and that Home Affairs’ assessment of the numbers of asylum seekers is therefore unrealistically low. It was the intention of the authors to investigate these allegations and counter-allegations for ourselves. • Finally, it is the perception of the Solidarity Peace Trust that South Africa needs to brace itself for ever-greater numbers of Zimbabweans in their midst unless a lasting political solution is found to the current crisis in Zimbabwe. o The government of South Africa therefore needs to devise new policies to deal with the problems, which could include greater efforts to mediate in Zimbabwe itself to promote a return to peace, prosperity and human rights, as well as more humane and comprehensive policies on how to treat the mass of Zimbabweans in their nation. o While there is growing awareness of the plight of Zimbabweans among churches and the NGO sector in South Africa, there is a need for more developed services and support to be put in place for exiles from all nations, including improved 1 According to Barry Gilder, Director General of the Department of Home Affairs in South Africa, Zimbabweans do not even make the top ten countries producing asylum seekers, but the authors of this report believe there are many reasons why it is difficult for Zimbabweans to claim asylum, and that if access to asylum was unhindered, there would be thousands more Zimbabweans who would claim this. 2 The largest group are Mozambicans. 3 Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE), National Refugee Baseline Survey: Final Report, November 2003, researched for Japan International Cooperation Agency, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 4 The issue of historical migration patterns is raised ahead in this report. 5 By the end of 2003, around 1,500 Zimbabweans had been given asylum seeker status by Home Affairs. This is NOT the same as being recognised as a refugee with the full benefits that this entails. Approximately 30 or so Zimbabweans have full refugee status – Home Affairs was unable to give us more exact figures. See ahead in this report for full discussion of the refugee laws and different status categories. 15