“Zimbabweans
are now forced to litigate when they go to the hospital, schools, universities,
travel on the roads, and at the work place,” says a memo sent by Zepha to the
Zimbabwean ambassador to SA.
The memo also
says Zimbabwean children in SA are being raised and conditioned to believe that
they are second-class citizens. This is because their parents are humiliated,
degraded, mistreated, and publicly scorned by what appears to be
state-sponsored anti-Zimbabwe rhetoric.
The memo goes
on to detail specific instances of discrimination that it claims have been
happening, including:
Traffic authorities have flatly refused to
renew driving licences of several Zepha members and then set up roadblocks
searching for foreigners without licences;
Police raids have increased in communities
where Zimbabweans are concentrated;
ZEP holders’ bank accounts have been
frozen, or put on hold, by banks because their ZEP permits were deemed invalid;
SA law enforcement has been stepped up at
companies employing Zimbabweans, and this campaign of harassment has resulted
in many employers terminating the employment of Zimbabwean workers;
Dismissed Zimbabwean workers have had their
Unemployment Insurance Fund and pension fund payments withheld;
Children of ZEP permit holders have been
prevented from writing exams because they lack study visas; and
There are numerous recorded instances of
Zimbabweans, including pregnant women, being denied treatment at SA hospitals.
The Department
of Home Affairs (DHA) is accused of frustrating the rights of ZEP holders to
apply for permanent residence, as allowed under the Immigration Act, even
though they have lived, worked and paid taxes in SA for decades. Moneyweb
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