The story of Chidimma Vanessa Adetshina and how she became a contestant in the Miss South Africa pageant has cast notions of nationality and access to documentation for foreign nationals living in South Africa into the spotlight.
The reality is that inefficiencies and corruption at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) have created a powder keg where foreign nationals living in South Africa are forced to live in a state of desperation and as illegal immigrants because the department is just not working effectively.
This was exhibited in a fatal stampede at Home Affairs offices in Marabastad in Pretoria on Tuesday, where foreign nationals had queued to reapply or renew their refugee or asylum papers.
The tragic stampede resulted in the death of one individual, with 20 others being injured.
“Police can confirm that one person died and more than 20 sustained injuries and were taken to hospital, following a stampede at one of the government buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday. Police have since opened an inquest docket for investigation,” siad Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo of the South African Police Service in Gauteng.
In the meantime, migrants who are struggling to get their documentation are pleading with the government to intervene regarding the conditions at refugee centres in South Africa.
Prison-like conditions
According to a source, the stampede highlights what foreign nationals living in South Africa have to go through to get their documentation.
“For over three years I stood in the same lines as the people who were caught in the stampede, and I can tell you that it was a result of the desperation, of people fed up with just waiting without really knowing what direction they are going,” an asylum seeker told Daily Maverick.
The migrant who shared his story with the publication preferred to stay anonymous, but will be referred to as Kendi in the article. Kendi shared the conditions that could have led to the deadly stampede from his personal experience.
“People queue in those lines from as early as 5am, and most times we don’t get assistance. Usually what would happen when an officer first walks out, and people are waiting in line, there is usually no order. So when they see an officer walk outside, even if they aren’t walking out in an official capacity, people will just rush to the front so they can be the first person in the line. That’s how stuff ends up in a mess because people are pushing, grabbing each other, and that’s how a stampede can happen, you know, people just tussling out of desperation because they have probably been there for a long time, and they just want their papers,” he said.
Kendi sent Daily Maverick footage showing how the queuing area of the Marabastad office was set up. The video shows an enclosed area that looks eerily like a cage.
“Going with my mother and sister was always tough because I would always have to protect them from the chaos. The security wouldn’t allow you to move around. Once you’re in you can’t leave. It was a very enclosed area and we feared leaving because if you leave you lose your spot, and there are already so many people there. Even stuff like bathroom breaks are a luxury. I would meet people who spent the night there waiting for an opening and ask myself ‘How can they endure this?’” he said.
Four-year wait for assistance
Kendi is no stranger to queuing at the Home Affairs offices in Marabastad. He or a family member have been doing so since 2008, when his mother fled the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the conflict there.
At the time Kendi was only nine years old and was listed as a dependent on his mother’s asylum papers. Kendi recounted how during his school years, he and his mother had to go to the Marabastad office to renew their papers every year.
Years later, in a stroke of bad luck Kendi ’s papers expired in April 2020, just as South Africa was going into lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. He had no way of renewing his asylum status.
Eventually the Department of Home Affairs made a link available for people to renew their passports online. However, according to Kendi the process was inefficient.
“Home affairs systems are so trash, on their website all the phone numbers are out of date. There are probably one or two phone numbers that are still in use, but even then nobody answers,” Kendi said.
“I used a link to apply to have my asylum papers updated. I received an automated message that requested specific documentation. I rounded up the documentation and got it certified. The waiting period is supposed to be two weeks, but we waited over a month, and calls to officials went nowhere.”
He waited for the entirety of 2020 but received no response from home affairs. At the time he was living undocumented.
“It was very stressful during the lockdown. The people were adamant about seeing people’s documentation, and I was constantly scared that I would be caught outside and that I would be sent back to the DRC without documents. For a long time I was moving with a lot of fear,” he said.
In 2021 when the hard lockdown ended Kendi went to the offices in person with printouts of his email correspondence.
He said he incurred large personal costs on the days that the office saw congolese nationals (Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays).
“I would take off on Monday, still not get my papers, go back on the Tuesday and its still a no. I would go back on the Friday, and by the end of the week, i was out of money,” Kendi said.
“I went there in person at about seven in the morning and stood in line till 11am, and that is when they come and tell us the system is down for a bit, and then at 12.30pm the officer would come and tell us they are on their lunch break. An hour later, he would appear, and you could just see them dragging their feet,”
Kendi said that he would see officials taking bribes from people.
“It was so bad that you could just see them shaking another person’s hand or taking a piece of paper because it had money in it.”
Further stumbling blocks
Though Kendi had been consistently queuing in lines since 2020, he only actually set foot in the building in 2023, where he said he was met with further stumbling blocks.
“There is a deep language barrier, some of the officials I encountered could not speak English properly, and there were no translators available. I remember at one stage they had me there doing translations for a guy that was at the department to renew his papers. I had been there so many times it was like I became an employee of home affairs,” Kendi said.
Things got better through intervention from the Sophiatown Community Psychological Services, which contacted the Department of Home Affairs on his behalf.
“It’s only then that I started getting smooth service. It was weird because before that my emails would not be answered and I would have to wait in long lines. But after (the department) was contacted things changed. I was even offered a chair when I arrived,” Kendi said, adding that he finally received his renewed papers in May 2024.
“It’s annoyinging that I had to bring in lawyers to get my papers. This could have been done more effectively and efficiently. So much funds, opportunity and time was wasted trying to get this thing. The trouble is that these guys don’t seem like they are willing to help you. Most people want to be documented, but it’s really hard to get them,” Kendi said.