OPINION, Bernard Chiguvare: I left Zimbabwe to live in SA. I want to go back. This is why it’s hard

Many South Africans wonder why so many of us Zimbabweans came to be settled in their country, and wonder why we do not simply return to our homeland.

This is my story about my rural homestead in Zimbabwe that I felt forced to leave. I would like to go back and spend the rest of my life there, but it isn’t that simple.

From the early 1960s, I lived in Buhera District in Manicaland Province. I have a deep bond with this place, even though the soil is today very poor for farming.

In 1987 I got married. My uncle allocated me three hectares to build a family homestead. I was earning a salary that allowed me to immediately build a three-bedroomed house and also a small rondavel. Though my wish was to build a better home, I had limited resources.

We used to grow groundnuts and maize for our own consumption.

Economic meltdown

Then, around 1998, I became employed by the Zimbabwean Public Service Commission under the Department of Home Affairs, and I relocated my family to Harare, because I was working there. Later, I was transferred to Masvingo District.

During these years I used to employ someone to look after my home and the animals. I made sure that every holiday our family returned to our rural home.

In 2006, during the Zimbabwe economic meltdown, four of my six children were at boarding school. My salary had become tiny when converted to the South African rand or US dollar. I couldn’t even afford my accommodation. My resources were so strained that I had to let go of the person looking after my rural home. I still used to visit regularly, but I noticed the house was being burgled and vandalised.

It was a difficult situation. Should I leave my home to be vandalised so that I can just focus on my children’s education? I decided this was the best I could do, and I had to all but abandon my rural home.

But it soon became apparent that if I did not make a plan by the end of 2006, my children were going to be forced to drop out of school.

I sought advice from a friend, a teacher, who used to buy shoes from Bata Shoe Company in Zimbabwe to sell in South Africa. I tried to join him but it did not work out for me.

By 2007, I had noticed that a number of my friends had left for South Africa. My wife also went to Cape Town and was selling various things, such as brooms.

I asked myself, “Should I, too, leave Zimbabwe for South Africa?” I had worked for nine years under the Department of Home Affairs. What work could I look for in South Africa? I simply did not know. My salary had become worthless, so I left my job. In March 2007 I left for South Africa.

But always at the back of my mind was my rural and true home, where I wished to retire one day. I love the place �` the environment and its biodiversity. There is enough space for gardening and a bit of crop farming. I used to keep ten head of cattle, but three were stolen and the others I had to sell.

Home vandalised 

By 2010 my home had been completely vandalised. I have no idea who did it, but they not only stole everything �` our clothes, the three-piece lounge suite, the kitchen utensils �` they also made off with the window frames, the panes and the doors. It was distressing, but I had to remain steadfast, concentrating on the education of my children.

I eventually found someone to look after the place again, but when he visited his family during the Christmas holiday, he never returned. I have been told he was seeking work at a mine about 60km east of my home. No one was staying at the house.

In November last year, I returned to find that the roofs of the rondavel and the house had caved in. But I have started to renovate the place and I plan to extend it.

In 2009, the South African government introduced the Dispensation of Zimbabwean Permit, which became the Zimbabwean Special Permit (ZSP) in 2014 and the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) in 2017. Then it was announced that the ZEP would expire in June this year.

For all these years I could manage to support my family by working legally in South Africa. If the ZEP ends, I will have to return to Zimbabwe and live at my rural home.

I love my home and wish to stay there, but right now I am not sure how I will manage it financially.

  www.samigration.com

Hell Affairs, a South African was stuck in limbo for four years trying to prove her identity and citizenship

A mother of three had her ID blocked by Home Affairs leaving her in anguish, and unable to live a normal life. Expensively obtained affidavits, letters and a DNA test left officials unmoved about the lack of progress for years. 

Many South Africans have never considered what it would take to prove they are citizens of this land. For Thulisile Gumede, it took several trips from Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), collecting affidavits from former teachers, a letter from her village chief and a DNA test. It also took four years of her life. 

Gumede, a mother of three married to a Zimbabwean man, thought her ordeal was over when in 2022, Home Affairs confirmed it had unblocked her identity document.

Earlier, in 2017, when applying for her son’s identity document (ID), she found out that her ID had been blocked.

Blocked identity

This meant all three of her children would not be able to get IDs, which turned into a particular nightmare for her son Lungani, who was in matric at the time. 

“Every time he had to write an exam, he needed to bring an affidavit from the police explaining why he did not have an ID,” explained Gumede. 

She visited the Vereeniging Home Affairs office to try to get her ID unblocked. Nobody could explain the reason for the blocking, but officials said she had to prove her South African status. 

“My heart was so sore, I didn’t know what to do,” she said. 

Gumede was asked to attend a meeting at Home Affairs offices where she was asked which village she came from, the name of her chief and other details about her early life. “I was relaxed because I knew I am a South African.”

She recalled one of the officials remarked that her accent indicated she was a South African of Zulu descent. But this informal test was not enough to get her status back. 

She had to travel to both her mother’s and father’s villages, in rural KZN, to get affidavits from teachers and letters from people who knew her. 

“I grew up staying on my mom’s side and then, in Grade 10, I moved to my father’s side. I had to travel to both these places, Emangozi and KwaNgwanase. I needed to get my father’s documents,” she said. 

Thulisile Gumede and her sons Lungani Gumede and Mthembeni Shabalala were denied South African IDs and blocked by Home Affairs when applying for their documents. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Costs in time and money

All the while, time was ticking by. Trips to rural KZN were costing Gumede time and money, as she needed to take time off work and track down people who were no longer living in the same area. 

Despite collecting the documents, Gumede was told she also needed to provide, and pay for, a DNA test with her mother.

“They said my mother does not appear on my ID document. So, I had to bring my mom from KZN. I had to pay for that and paid for the DNA test for me and her,” she said.

This evidence was submitted in 2018, but still nothing happened for years. 

“I was sent around from pillar to post. I was praying all those years to let my identity come back to me. I was stuck. I was working but I was stuck. I couldn’t buy a car; I couldn’t buy a house.”

She felt embarrassed when colleagues talked about their progress in their lives. 

“I felt lost. I felt like I am nothing. If you don’t have an identity you are nothing.”

Gumede’s ID was eventually unblocked in February 2022, with no explanation given for the initial reason or the lengthy process.

She suspects her ID was blocked after she visited Zimbabwe several times in 2010 to see her in-laws, but no officials have confirmed or denied this.

“Everyone in my family is free in their country. It was only me [who had a blocked ID] and I was asking myself why I went to Zimbabwe. I was always emotional when I thought about this,” she said. 

Thinking that her children would no longer have their own ID problems, she returned to the Home Affairs offices to apply for her son’s ID. 

“When I went to Vereeniging Home Affairs, they told me my son’s ID was still blocked. I was hopeless. How can I give birth to my children who have no identity?” 

Thulisile Gumede and her sons Lungani Gumede and Mthembeni Shabalala. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Life in limbo

Lungani Gumede, now a 23-year-old student boilermaker, said his life was in limbo. He’s been unable to get a driver’s licence or open a bank account. Even writing exams at school is difficult.

“I look crazy sometimes when I tell people I don’t have an ID. It’s like I am not a citizen,” he said.

The Gumede family is one of more than 100 Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) clients whose ID documents have been blocked by Home Affairs.

The LHR has recently applied to join a court case on the issue as strategic litigants, asking the high court in Pretoria to find that the department should review its process of blocking IDs and provide a clear policy on how to resolve the issue.

800,000 blocked IDs

LHR says that up to 800,000 IDs have been blocked in South Africa. It argues that the process is unconstitutional because those whose IDs are blocked are not made aware of the move, and no clear process exists for them to challenge the decision. Cases are dealt with differently from office to office, and people often have to make a case for their citizenship at great expense. 

Lamenting how costly the process has been, Gumede said: “I want to make people aware that our government does not care about us. We are being treated as nothing. What about people who are not working? This thing [unblocking an ID] involves a lot of money.”

DM168 sent questions about Gumede’s case and the general practice of ID blocking to Ministry of Home Affairs spokesman Siya Qoza on Monday 12 March. He had not responded by Thursday 16 March. 

www.samigration.com

Immigration activists launch detention hotline as calls for help increase

Activists have launched an immigration detention hotline to deal with an increasing number of calls from persons and family of people who have been detained. Lawyers for Human Rights has been inundated with calls for help from mostly immigrants who have been detained and cannot afford legal representation. 

Nearly a month ago, the organisation launched its immigration detention hotline. 

The head of penal reform at the organisation, Nabeelah Mia, says they deal with an average of about 10 to 15 calls per day. 

Mia says they introduced the hotline after observing that immigration officers and police are increasingly detaining immigrants without following the proper procedures under the Immigration Act.

She says another issue is the restrictive immigration policies and practices being implemented by the Department of Home Affairs, including rejection of asylum seeker applications and the cancellation of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP).

`This has seen an increase in the number of immigrants being detained or at risk of detention. The hotline was, therefore, established in response to this. It was also a way to streamline access to legal assistance and advice to people in distressing situations,` she said.

According to Mia, the organisation has employees who screen all the calls and provide immediate legal advice where possible. For complaints beyond their capabilities, Mia said people are directed to other organisations within their detention monitoring network.

She added:

We also encourage lawyers who wish to be a part of the referral network to contact us.

In cases where an immigrant has already been arrested or detained for issues related to their document`s status, Mia said the aim was to get that person released as soon as possible.

`However, we have quite a significant number of requests for assistance from people not detained, but who have questions related to their documentation.`

Mia said their walk-in offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Musina see hundreds of people a week, who are desperate for assistance.

She said the hotline was toll free. 

There is also a WhatsApp/messaging number. The initiative is part of a collaboration between Lawyers for Human Rights and the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town.

The immigration detention hotline toll-free call number is 0800079614 or WhatsApp or message to +27817168791.

www.samigration.com

Over 270 000 home affairs hotline calls unanswered

IT web | 22 March 2023

More than 270 000 calls were dropped by clients before they received assistance via the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA’s) call centre during the 2021/22 financial year.

This information came to light in a Parliamentary response to a query from Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Christopher Roos on the status of the home affairs hotline.

In the response, the DHA says its hotline number received a total 602 607 calls for the period under review. 

Of those, a total of 273 760 calls were dropped before they were attended to.

The home affairs department’s hotline was createdafter a survey showed citizens wanted to have their enquiries answered before they applied for services.

It’s also aimed at reducing the volumes of people that need to stand in queues at DHA offices.

However, many citizens have expressed their frustration at the long wait times to receive the necessary assistance, or complain their calls go unanswered. 

Detailing the contact centre’s service level targets, the DHA says 80% of calls directed to agents by the integrated voice response system are to be answered within 20 seconds.

On the other hand, 60% of calls relating to information requests − for example, how much is an enabling document, which documents are required to apply for enabling documents, how to apply online, how to change an online application, live capture offices and location of offices, and status updates on an application process − are to be resolved within the first call.

The average call handling time is six minutes, it notes. 

It further indicates the call abandonment rate is 20%. “These are calls that are sometimes dropped or terminated by clients before being responded to. 

“Cases created and escalated to second line support are to be escalated within 24 hours of the case being created.” 

According to the DHA, all service levels for the period under review, with the exception of the call abandonment rate, were achieved. 

“This was due to the centre operating at 50% capacity to ensure compliance with the lockdown and COVID-19 regulations, as passed by the president of the Republic of South Africa and the World Health Organisation.”

The first call resolution percentage for the financial year 2021/22 was 61%, it adds.

There is a total of 120 contact centre agents in the approved home affairs contact centre organisational structure, with the total number of agents for the 2021/22 financial year at 94, it states. 

“During this period, the contact centre operated on a rotation system, catering for 50% capacity per shift, to ensure adherence to the lockdown and COVID-19 regulations. 

“The centre therefore had on average 42 agents per shift, excluding those with comorbidities and those on isolation as a result of COVID-19 infections.” 

The DHA’s hotline number is 0800 60 11 90.

www.samigration.com

British man takes Home Affairs to court to remain in SA and pledges funds to create precedent

SA People | 22  March 2023

A British-born, US-raised businessman and philanthropist has taken Home Affairs to court for rejecting his application for permanent residency in South Africa on “fictitious reasons”. Josh Palfreman posted a video on Friday in which he pledges funds for not just himself, but others like him, to try and create a precedent and case law for the “injust refusal of many foreigners’ applications for residency”.

Josh told SAPeople he’s trying to gain the right to stay and work in South Africa indefinitely, a country that’s close to his heart and to which he has contributed so much. “I love South Africa, for all its beauty and people,” he says. “I’ve called it home for the past 10 years.” In that time he has established businesses, a venture capital firm and undertaken many philanthropic ventures that benefit SA.

Josh is currently on a temporary residence visa and is fighting for permanent residency “as hard as I can through the courts”.

In the video, Josh stands in front of the High Court of South Africa, and explains this is the third time in the past six months that he will litigate against the Department of Home Affairs in the hope that they approve his application. The case is JPalfreman vs Minister and Director General of Home Affairs 1967/23

He says: “I have built a home, a rounded social circle, a diverse lifestyle and the conditions that secure a healthy and rewarding foundation for my aspirations to be a father and raise my children here in the Mother City.

“However, like so many others, i have been failed by the South African government which has previously rejected my applications for permanent residency on fictitious reasons that are baseless.

In the video, Josh says:

“Today I pledge funds not just for myself, but for others, to try and create precedent and case law in South Africa to stop the injust refusal of many foreigners’ applications for residency.

“We pose no threat to the country. We just want to live here, invest… and employ local people as much as we can.”

In a plea to the South African public, Josh says:

“If this is a cause that resonates with you, that you care about, or that you feel you can help me with… If you have a friend, a colleague, somebody in government who you think might be able to leverage some influence here – I am asking for your help today.

“I have played by the rules and done everything that I can over the past 10 years to simply call you my fellow South Africans, and it is not working.

“I need your help and I hope that you will come forward and offer your assistance. Thank you so much.”

Originally from the UK, Joshua grew up in Boston (USA) before returning to the UK where he obtained a BA in international relations at the Universtiy of London, and a MSc in environmental management at the University of Derby. He has since spent time in Tanzania and the last ten years in SA.

Friends of Josh’s in South Africa have commented on his video saying: “Best wishes and good luck. You’re an asset to South Africa and we need you here” and “I love that you are working to empower the system”.

www.samigration.com