South Africa?s government says early next year it will begin deporting Zimbabweans who are in the country ?illegally.? New immigration rules say they must have entered South Africa before May 31, 2010, and must be able to show they are working, studying or running businesses.
?The South African government is doing this so that we regularize the stay of Zimbabweans... who (are) contributing to the development of South Africa,? says Jackie McKay, one of the officials driving the process. He?s chief of immigration services and a deputy director general of home affairs.
The revised regulations have quashed a ?special dispensation? granted undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in April last year. The permit allowed them to legally but temporarily live and work in South Africa.
Now, only migrants with valid Zimbabwean passports and the necessary ? and sometimes complicated ? documentary proof of work, study or business qualify to apply for the new temporary residence permits. Their applications must be filed by December 31.
Observers say the new regulations create the potential for mass deportations of Zimbabweans from January 1, since many migrants don?t conform to the new rules.
?Most Zimbabweans in South Africa work very informally and will not be able to go through the intricate bureaucratic processes required by the end-of-the-year deadline,? says Gabriel Shumba, a lawyer and executive director of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum. ?Also, most do not have passports and we believe it?s impossible for the Zimbabwe government to deliver these to the masses of Zimbabweans presently living in South Africa by December 31.?
The International Organization for Migration estimates there are currently about one and a half million to two million Zimbabweans living illegally in South Africa, but some NGOs say the number is far higher.
Zimbabweans began pouring across the border into South Africa after the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) almost beat President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in the 2000 elections. Observers who monitored the polls say Mr. Mugabe?s supporters attacked MDC supporters, a charge Harare denies. Since then other elections have also been marred by violence and allegations of rigging by President Robert Mugabe.
In recent years, agriculture has collapsed in Zimbabwe following ZANU-PF?s seizure of white-owned farms. There?ve been widespread food shortages and Zimbabwe?s currency has become almost worthless. The country now has an unemployment rate of about 80 percent and political violence endures.
Yet, as a basis for their new immigration rules, South African authorities say the situation in Zimbabwe, following the establishment of a power-sharing government about 18 months ago, has ?improved enough? to allow Zimbabwean exiles to return to their homeland.
McKay emphasizes, ?The South African government is not targeting Zimbabweans in any way, but our new immigration laws will, as from next year, target anyone who is in South Africa illegally.?
Analysts say the new ordinances pertaining to Zimbabweans are the beginning of a South African crackdown on illegal immigrants. People from all over Africa have been flocking to the continent?s strongest economy since the early 1990s.
?There will be deportations of all illegal immigrants in South Africa, not only Zimbabweans. The South African government will do all it can to deter illegal movement from our neighboring states,? says McKay.
Zimbabwean human rights activist and academic, Elinor Sisulu, says she understands the South African authorities? worries about ?uncontrolled? migration.
?I do think the magnitude of the migration (from Zimbabwe) is such that it does cause problems in South Africa,? she states. Sisulu says the immense influx of Zimbabweans into the country in recent years has ?strained? poor working class South African communities ?who are the main hosts of all these immigrants.?
It led, in her opinion, to the ?so-called xenophobic attacks? on Africans ? including Zimbabweans ? across South Africa in 2008.
?There?s been a lot of pressure on the South African cabinet for it to act around the issue of foreigners in South Africa,? says Zimbabwean-born South African refugee rights advocate, Braam Hanekom. He?s founder of the group, People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), which represents the interests of the many illegal immigrants living in South Africa.
Hanekom warns, ?There?s still the threat of renewed xenophobic attacks, because frustration in poor communities is still running high.?