as a foreign culture threatening to swamp local cultural norms. The growing xenophobia in South Africa directed towards all foreign Africans, has been explained as stemming in part from the fact that prior to 1994, very few Africans headed for apartheid-ruled South Africa for refuge. However, once democracy was achieved in South Africa, this changed very rapidly, and from having had very little exposure to other Africans, South Africans now have to cope with an influx of foreigners from all over the continent, fleeing wars and hardship. In spite of its comparative wealth in the region, South Africa is a country that still faces enormous issues of unemployment and poverty within its own borders. Hundreds of thousands of South African citizens need housing, education and jobs. Unemployment among South Africans is at around 42%, with one in two black South Africans needing work.122 Migrants are therefore seen as taking away work and resources from poor South Africans, and of driving down payment for part time work. As “illegals”, Zimbabweans and other migrants are prepared to work for a few rand a day, as they have no option but to be exploited. South Africans competing for the same jobs resent this. Zimbabweans are allegedly the most resented refugee group, because of the sudden increase in their numbers. There are regular xenophobic attacks on non-South Africans; seven foreign Africans have been killed after being pushed from moving commuter trains, and other foreign nationals have had acid thrown in their faces, have been shot dead and targeted in various others ways. 123 Zimbabweans and Crime Both the South African and the Botswana authorities have commented on the role of Zimbabweans in crime, both organised and petty, in their respective nations.124 At one level, virtually all Zimbabweans in South Africa are breaking one law or another. An estimated one million-plus Zimbabweans are in South Africa illegally in the first instance. 125 These Zimbabweans are in a tough position. They cannot find legal work, so are reduced to working illegally. Many young girls and women resort to prostitution. Men and women of all ages vend goods in markets and on the side of the road, without trading licences. Others work for exploitative wages on farms, in back gardens, in restaurants and elsewhere, hiding from authorities and expecting deportation any day. In interviews with us, Zimbabweans have commented that if people are officially illegal and living below the visibility line for fear of deportation, they are more likely to resort to illegal ways of surviving; if they are treated as illegals, they will behave like illegals. They also acknowledge that many Zimbabwean refugees are in their teens or twenties and away from the 122 Reuters Alertnet, Zimbabweans drift to neighbours as economy ails, 28 August 2003. LHR, and Wits Law Clinic, October 2003 interviews. 124 Although Botswana is not the major focus of this report, some information on Botswana and Zimbabwean crime has been included in an appendix to this report. SABC News, Illegal cross border gun smuggling rife in Limpopo, 17 August 2004; IRIN (UN), [Botswana] Tensions continue to simmer, 10 August 2004; The Herald (Zim), Xenophobia persists in Botswana, 9 August 2004; The Guardian (UK), Weary Zimbabweans seek better life, 18 May 2004; Mmegi, (Botswana), Zims prefer whip to prison, court president says, 13 May 2004; IRIN ((UN), Tetchy cross-border relations with Botswana, 12 May 2004; AFP, Zim slams “barbaric” treatment of citizens, 11 May 2004; Mmegi (Botswana), No Government intervention in bus rank violence, 7 May 2004; The Daily News (Botswana), We have the right to curb influx, 23 April 2004; BBC News, Zimbabwe crisis spills across [Botswana]border, 30 March 2004; City Press (RSA), Zim suspect nabbed in raid, 6 March 2004; Mmegi, (Botswana), Another crack-down against illegal immigrants, 15 January 2004; 125 Approximately 3,000 have asylum seeker permits, with possibly 50,000 more wanting asylum but not having the permits, and possibly tens of thousands more who have legitimate visas in legitimate passports. The rest are illegal. 123 53