Introduction “Luck was on my side, I paid an officer. South Africa is a good place because we are living under oppression [in Zimbabwe]” South Africa receives more asylum applications than any other country in the world. According to Deputy Home Affairs minister Fatima Chohan, 180 000 individuals applied for asylum in 2010.4 Most asylum seekers from countries like Zimbabwe, Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Malawi and Somalia to escape war, poverty, and/or persecution. They come to seek asylum, safety, and opportunity. They come to escape desperate poverty, insecurity and political turmoil – and to save their lives. The South African Constitution protects the rights of all people who flee persecution whether on the basis of sexual or political orientation, race, ethnicity, disease or drought.5 With this influx of foreigners, there is inevitably added pressure on society as a whole; how this pressure is handled depends on the outlook taken by government to the problem. Deportation, as will be shown in this report, is an ineffective and very expensive solution. The focus on deportation rather than documentation reduces the resources of government to combat real criminals, and creates a climate that encourages xenophobia. Deportation does nothing to address the influx of migrants, it does not lead to an increased number of legal and documented immigrants. In our survey over 200 respondents out of 227 said they would return if they were deported, while 144 of them had already been deported before and returned. Graph 1 shows the number of people who claimed they would return if deported Deportations criminalise foreigners by stigmatizing them as Illegal. The mass deportations of Zimbabweans preceded the xenophobic violence in 2008. Citizens became accustomed to SAPS and DHA raiding houses, market places, taxis and businesses; they began to see the foreign national as a criminal. The foreign nationals were forced to live a life of fear of being caught, like outlaws. Communities were often susceptible to over-politicised hysteria and manipulation, which led them to believe taking action was their civic responsibility. There is concern that if this abuse of power and negative attitude and treatment of foreign nationals by Department of Home Affairs (DHA), South African Police Service (SAPS), South African National Defence Force 4 Davis, Gaye. “SA is top refugee haven in world.” IOL News (Independent Online). 3 May 2012. http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/sa-is-top-refugee-haven-in-world-1.1284590 5 Constitution of South Africa, Chapter 2 (especially: Sections 7, 8, 9 and 10). 9