Zimbabwean Permits: Minister either doesn't know, or won't tell
In a parliamentary reply received yesterday, Minister of Home Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, both refused to admit to the size of the backlog in applications from Zimbabwean asylum seekers and confirmed that the ANC government has no practical measures in place to actively encourage repatriation of Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa. The minister's response points either to a lack of information or a concerning lack of political will to release it. This has serious implications both for the meeting of the 31 December deadline for Zimbabweans wanting to regularize their stay in South Africa, and the Zuma administration's attitude towards the free flow of information.
A copy of the reply follows below.
According to the latest UN Refugee Agency Global Report , released in June 2010, South Africa continues to be the country that receives the largest number of asylum applications in the world, with 222 000 applications submitted in 2009 alone. 300 to 400 Zimbabweans arrive in South Africa daily (see here). In the light of these figures, that the Department of Home Affairs granted asylum to only 5 815 Zimbabwean citizens in the last eight years gives an indication of the enormity of the backlog it faces and the dire state of administration within the department.
Given yesterday's comments by Deputy Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba, that the 31 December deadline will be "steadfastly" adhered to despite the Department's seeming organizational disarray, maybe the Minister knows something we don't.
The Minister's response is deeply concerning for three reasons. Firstly, either she does not know how many asylum applications are still outstanding, which points to a concerning administrative failure in her Department, or she is withholding what can only be assumed to be damning statistics from Parliament, which directly undermines that body's constitutionally mandated oversight role. An attempt by the Minister to obfuscate on this matter is even more worrying given the ANC government's increasingly evident disdain for openness and accountability.
The Minister's willingness to make public the figures requested by the DA has no doubt been compromised by the government's widely-criticised policy on Zimbabwe, over which she presided during her tenure as Minister of International Relations, which stalled political progress in that country and lead to asylum seekers flooding across the border into South Africa.
Thirdly, the Minister's admission that there are no strategies in place to actively promote repatriation of Zimbabweans constitutes a gaping hole in her department's strategy. To simply hope that economic and political improvements in Zimbabwe will encourage "a lot of Zimbabweans" to "voluntarily go back home", is not enough.
The DA will be submitting parliamentary questions to elicit the information the Minister has thus far failed to provide and to probe her department's clear administrative and planning failures.
It is regrettable that the Zuma government's decision to pander to President Robert Mugabe has placed an overwhelming burden on our own country and on those Zimbabweans who have been forced to seek refuge within our borders due President Mugabe's repressive regime . This is the legacy of silent diplomacy.
It is time for the government to confront these realities, commit to an administrative overhaul of failed systems in the Department of Home Affairs, and make public both the extent of the problem and its planned solutions.
Parliamentary reply
QUESTION 1981
DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 30 July 2010
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 18 of 2010
The Leader of the Opposition (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:
(1) What is the estimated number of Zimbabwean refugees currently living in South Africa;
(2) whether she has any strategies in place to encourage the repatriation of Zimbabwean refugees; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
NW2376E
REPLY:
(1) In the period 1 January 2000 to 31 May 2010, a total of 5 822 Zimbabwean nationals were granted refugee status (refugee permits), in terms of section 24 of the Refugee Act, 1998 (Act No 130 of 1998).
(2) All the efforts to get Zimbabwe back to normal by the South African government are relevant to the repatriation of Zimbabweans. As the economic, and the political situation improves in Zimbabwe, a lot of Zimbabweans will voluntarily go back home.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 1918
DATE OF PUBLICATION: Monday, 26 July 2010
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 17 of 2010
The Leader of the Opposition (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:
(1) How many (a) Zimbabwean citizens have been granted asylum since 1 January 2002 and (b) applications for asylum by Zimbabwean citizens have yet to be processed;
(2) whether, with reference to the report by the United Nations Refugee Agency in June 2010 (details furnished), (a) there are any reasons for the backlog of asylum applications and (b) she has taken any steps to expedite the processing of these applications; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
NW2306E
REPLY:
(1) A total of 5 815 Zimbabwean citizens have been granted asylum in the period
1 January 2002 up to, and including, 31 May 2010.
(2) The moratorium and the Special Dispensation is coming to an end. The ongoing operation of documenting all Zimbabweans, in the country, is towards resolving the problem. There is, also, an amendment Bill that, if passed into law, will assist in speeding up the refugee application process, generally.
Statement issued by Athol Trollip, MP, Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader, October 7 2010
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