Immigration Laws: November, 1998 - Number #20

Violence against foreigners in South Africa is increasing, as South Africans of all races begin to see foreigners as competing for scarce jobs and housing. Estimates of the number of foreigners illegally present range from two million to eight million in a country with a population of 40.6 million in 1996 (1996 Census). The Human Sciences Research Council estimated 2.5 million to 4.1 million illegals.

In 1997, some 200,000 foreigners were removed from South Africa. Most illegal foreigners are from Mozambique; the Kruger Park forms most of the border between Mozambique and South Africa. When caught south of Kruger Park, Mozambicans are held overnight, and then put on buses for the return journey; many attempt another illegal entry.

The Durban High Court ruled in October 1998 that foreigners in South Africa enjoy basic constitutional rights, including the right to due process before being removed from the country. The ruling came in the case of a Ghanian man who arrived in South Africa illegally in 1993, married a South African, and then tried to obtain legal status. After he told how he bought papers from corrupt immigration officials, the Department of Home Affairs refused to legalize his status. He appealed to the courts, which ordered a stay of deportation.

Some South African politicians have begun to scapegoat foreigners as the cause of the country's problems. A 1997 survey found that 25 percent of South Africans want to ban all immigrants; 80 percent of respondents said they had little or no contact with foreigners. Both Blacks and whites in the survey preferred white to Black immigrants.

Jonathan Crush, co-director of the Canada-based Southern African Migration Project, said that "South Africans are more hostile towards immigrants than citizens of virtually every other country in the world for which data is available."

The 20-nation Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa agreed to abolish visas for their citizens traveling within the regional economic grouping by 2000, implementing a provision of the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and exchange of Labor and Services. The COMESA plans to encourage the migration of skilled labor within the region.

Sierra Leone in October 1998 announced a crackdown on illegal immigrants, prompting Lebanese, Asians and West African migrants to regularize their status to avoid deportation and loss of their businesses after October 14, 1998.

Carmel Rickard, "Court rules that Home Affairs officials are bound by the Constitution to treat illegal aliens as fairly as citizens," Sunday Times, October 25, 1998. Suzanne Daley, "New South Africa Shuts the Door on Its Neighbors," New York Times, October 19, 1998.