Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Refugees slam officials’ bullying
Allegations of corruption at asylum centres
IMMIGRATION officials at one of South Africa’s largest refugee reception centres have been accused of hurling abuse at a Syrian woman seeking asylum, and telling her to “go back and die in Syria” if she didn’t like the way they operated.
The woman, Angie Mandani, said she has endured ill treatment from Pretoria officials for the past 11 months, watching as they ignored asylum seekers and accepted bribes from those so desperate they were prepared to pay to be assisted.
Mandani, who fled her wartorn nation along with her husband a year ago, was emotional as she told of her run-ins with rude and unhelpful officials.
“They’re very, very mean. I can’t explain how mean they are. Nobody’s nice,” Mandani said.
She admitted she and her husband, Maher Haikal, had eventually been forced to fork out almost R1 000 every time they applied for extensions to their permits.
They and other refugees had no choice, she said. The alternative was to stand for days in the sun and still end up leaving empty-handed.
“We are refugees. We are not supposed to pay,” she said, adding that it cost R200 just to get into the building.
Now Mandani and Haikal have turned to UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, for help.
The agency said it was aware of corruption allegations, which it said had also been acknowledged publicly by the Home Affairs department.
Lawyers for Human Rights and the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University also released research findings last year on corruption in the local asylum process, saying this was “a very real problem”.
Asked to comment, Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said officials involved in corruption should be identified.
“We have a zero tolerance approach towards such despicable practices. In this regard, we have acted against those who were found to be involved in these acts.”
He said Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba launched Operation Bvisa last year to rid the department of rotten elements.
Mandani and her husband fled Damascus, where their home was bombed.
Haikal’s uncle was kidnapped years ago and remains missing while his cousin died in an explosion in 2014.
They decided to flee when Haikal and his father started receiving death threats, Mandani said.
They first failed to get visas for the US and when they could not find work in Turkey, Haikal went to work in Lebanon as a dental technician. When his contract ended, he was forced to return to Syria, but the situation finally became too much for the couple.
“There are missiles and mortars every day. We want a normal life,” Mandani said.
They knew Syrians living in Joburg, so began discussing South Africa as an alternative.
“We didn’t want to go to Europe. People are drowning as they are fleeing to Europe illegally. We didn’t want to do anything illegal,” she said.
They got South African visitor visas and arrived in Joburg on March 26 last year. Two weeks later they went to the refugee reception office in Pretoria and were given a date for their hearings and asylum seeker permits.
When they returned, their applications were dealt with separately, each getting onemonth permits.
They failed to apply for extensions because they could not afford to travel to Pretoria and did not have cash to pay to officials, she said.
But when they finally returned to the Pretoria office in August, they learnt Haikal’s application had been granted, but Mandani’s declined.
She said the determination officer rejected her application as unfounded on the basis that Damascus was safe.
Weekend Argus this month reported on another Syrian family, living in Cape Town, who are appealing the rejection of their applications after an official also declared that Damascus – where they lived – was safe and that humanitarian aid was not warranted.
Mandani said: “Damascus might be safer than other parts of Syria, but it is still lifethreatening.”
UNHCR spokeswoman Tina Ghelli said refugee status determination was done on an individual basis by determination officers, with each case assessed on its own merits.
“It is possible they could come to different decisions.”
But she said the UNHCR had expressed concern over the extension of permits for short periods of time.
“The refugee certificates are extended for a period of four years, while asylum seeker permits are normally extended for six months.”
Ghelli said the department had announced changes to the system of receiving people at Marabastad. It was, however, too early to comment on the changes.
fatima.schroeder@inl.co.za