The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Reporter
MORE than 100 Zimbabweans were part of the over 700 undocumented foreign nationals who were rounded up by South African police in recent weeks in Johannesburg during an operation dubbed Operation O kae Molao (Operation Where is the Law?).
The first batch of the Zimbabweans was deported on Wednesday while another was deported yesterday, it has been learnt. An official at the Embassy of Zimbabwe in South Africa told Sunday News by telephone that the illegal immigrants were arrested and held at Lindela Holding Centre, before being prosecuted and deported.
“We gathered that a total of 101 Zimbabweans were arrested during the operation. They were held at Lindela Holding Centre, as they were being processed for deportation. The first batch was deported on Wednesday while the other batch was deported yesterday (Saturday),” said the official.
He said there was one case of an individual whose passport was taken by immigration officials and the embassy of Zimbabwe would look into the matter.
“There is nothing much we can do for Zimbabweans that are undocumented. However, for those whose documents are being processed the consular department will assist,” he said.
According to a representative from the Africa Diaspora Forum, the South African Police Services in a joint operation with immigration officials raided various buildings in Johannesburg.
“The South African Police Services (SAPS) together with Immigration officials raided buildings at Jeepe Street. They raided hotels, flat apartments, barbershops and arrested all immigrants, documented or not. About 700 immigrants were arrested that day.”
She said the immigrants were taken to Johannesburg Central Police station.
“Some colleagues from the Africa Diaspora Forum and I went to the police station to see how we could assist them. We got to the station at around 11am and the station commander said there was nothing we could do since they were still not charged and had no case numbers. I contacted Lawyers for Human Rights and they said they could only assist if we managed to get the list of names of all detained immigrants.
“When the Lawyers for Human Rights finally sent through their representative at around 5pm, we were told the magistrate court had agreed to open three special courts for the detained migrants so they could appear in court before the long weekend. Court resumed and one by one our fellow countrymen and women stood before the magistrate and we watched helplessly, as they were all given the same verdict — deportation.”
South African police raided a number of flats and areas where they seized large quantities of counterfeit clothing and footwear. The raid followed riots when police retreated after hawkers, mainly foreigners pelted them with stones and petrol bombs.
@peterkmatika
