On 12 July 2020, about four months after the COVID lockdown in South Africa, I made some predictions about the reasonable possibilities with regard to immigration issues.
See, “Here's what will happen, in
no particular order” on Facebook.
My temporary asylum permit was to
expire that August (2020) and would not be renewed throughout the state of
emergency.
As things stand, on 1 January 2023,
I walk around the streets of South Africa, for all intents and purposes an
illegal human being in South Africa, perfectly eligible for immediate
deportation.
Yes, let all the xenophobic people
commence their celebrations!
On one of those occasions, I was saved
by a taxi driver who paid some bit of money to a police officer in Johannesburg
who begged the officer to understand that people were really trying to survive,
and detaining them would be destruction of their lives, including the lives of
their children.
Oh, there was that time when I had
to give my expired documents to a police officer and I had to humbly tell them
the truth that I was still trying to renew them. Convincing them was not as easy
as the bloody xenophobic souls would love to believe.
Just recently, on 30 December 2022,
as my comrades and I made their way from the CPS Summer School held in Mpumalanga
(20-30 December 2022), we were the subjects of a random police stop and search operation.
I froze all that time, hoping that they wouldn’t enquire about our papers.
It seems to me that, sadly, the
South African police know nothing about immigration issues – and the related
human rights. They also know nothing about immigrants’ official documents and lives,
as well as the complexities thereto.
Oh, just to slightly digress, late
2014 I got a scholarship to study in one good European university, with everything
fully funded, and the only thing that kept me away from that scholarship was the
lack of a passport.
As the holder of a “temporary asylum
seeker” permit in South Africa, I was automatically ineligible for a passport.
I tried all I could to get a
passport, and even wrote to then minister of home affairs Malusi Gigaba, but that
guy who had naturalised the Guptas didn’t see me rich enough to give me a
passport. His response to my letter, a letter crafted by the SACP, was met with
a rude response! What an ugly soul!
Okay, so be it then! He’s today a species
I hate for the rest of my life.
Oh, enough excursion for today, it’s
time for me to review my predictions on the home affairs front, as made in 2020.
Sometime in November 2022, I was a “distinguished”
guest at the South African home affairs immigration centre in Pretoria,
Marabastad, now known as the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre.
The Desmond Tutu Centre deals with
immigration issues.
It’s important to state in this
regard that I and my comrades have been asylum seekers in South Africa for the
past 12 years.
What this means, in practical terms,
is that, though we’ve been in South African soil, we’ve really been on “No Man’s
Land” between Swaziland and South Africa for all these years, with no real
rights and no prospects of personal growth – unless, of course, we engage in
some illegal projects out there.
On 21 November 2022, I was horrified
to see fellow working-class people being subjected to horrendous conditions at the
Desmond Tutu centre. An old man and a woman literally sleeping on the concrete
floor at around 2pm (after queuing from around 4am or 5am) was enough for me to
summarise about the inhumane character of the South African immigration system.
By the way, to get attention at the
centre, immigrants must ensure to arrive at around 4am! Latest!
Yes, it’s the truth! Or else you
might be told to “come back tomorrow”.
I’ve heard many stories of people told
to come back the next day and they didn’t even know where they’d be sleeping
that night in order to comply with the directive.
Where does the queuing happen? Outside
the centre! I’ve witnessed helpless immigrants get robbed as they waited in the
queue in the morning before offices opened at 8am. Yes, it seems crazy, but
this is what actually happens almost on a daily basis. Those from Bangladesh,
Pakistan and other Asian countries often are the worst victims. Sometimes I think
that they’re mere slaves who’ve been trafficked and thus have nowhere else to
go. Could this be a reality? I don’t know, but then the South African government
doesn’t seem to be interested in getting to the bottom of this.
Many people who don’t take one
single step in our lives, we the foreigners, don’t understand our problems. Perhaps
they don’t even care.
So, what do such people call us
whenever we complain about the inhumane South African home affairs processes? Yes,
“ungrateful foreigners!” That’s what they call us! If only they could walk a
few steps in our shoes, they would probably appreciate our difficulties.
In 2023 I’ll be making another uneventful
trip to the Desmond Tutu Centre. I hope for the best, though hope is lost at
this point.
Here’s to 2023!
