Posts

Home Affairs to open refugee offices after two-year closure

By Tariro WashinyiraFirst published on GroundUp More than two years after closing in person services due to the Covid pandemic, the Department of Home Affairs has announced it is reopening its Refugee Reception Offices. Since 26 March 2020, there has been no way for refugees to apply for asylum, and people who already had refugee Read more >

ZEPs: the corruption threat lurking on the horizon

By Kwazi Dlamini    Corruption and incompetence. These are the foremost concerns that haunt those affected by the Zimbabwe exemption permits (ZEPs) saga that became the subject of recent media reports over the scrapping of the rights associated with the document by the Department of Home Affairs last month. The specialised permits for nationals of Read more >

Refugees’ rights must be respected

• A painting by Gunduz Aghayev depicts Aylan Kurdi playing on the sand. Image: Gunduz Aghayev By Thato Mahlangu Millions of people continue to be displaced in different parts of the world. A 2019 global trends survey by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) reveals how at least 100-million people were forced to flee their Read more >

Arrests made but more work needed at DHA

By Thato Mahlangu A sting operation by the police led to the arrest of a corrupt official of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) on 9 January 2020. Home affairs minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said in a statement he welcomed the arrest of immigration official Sam Langa who was arrested for demanding a bribe from Read more >

No warm welcome from Home Affairs at Beit Bridge

• The queue outside the Beit Bridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Image: Barbara Dale-Jones. By Barbara Dale-JonesFirst published by The Daily Maverick ‘We cannot have a Home Affairs department that is corrupt,’ declared President Cyril Ramaphosa in early October – while Barbara Dale-Jones was experiencing exactly that while travelling to Zimbabwe. As Read more >

Zim parents must buy fake permits for schoolchildren

South Africa’s home affairs department is not immigrant-friendly. At least, not to immigrants who are ordinary people trying to make a modest living. If you’re wealthy, it may be another story entirely. Our Project Lokisa report, released in November 2016, exposed rampant corruption in Home Affairs’ Marabastad refugee offices, where people were forced to pay Read more >

Cabinet reshuffle: CW issues strong call for action

Following last night’s cabinet reshuffle, the centre of political gravity and the last hope for the South African democracy rests with the people of South Africa and their parliamentary representatives. The events have clearly established that renewal will not come from within the ranks of the ruling party which has clearly been captured by a Read more >

Everyday bribery in SA still a serious problem

Towards the end of last year the Ethics Institute of South Africa (EthicsSA) released its second South African Citizen’s Bribery Survey, following on the first edition released in 2015. The survey aims, says EthicsSA, to help develop a “better understanding of the bribery challenges that South Africans face on a daily basis, their beliefs about Read more >

CW condemns Mashaba’s statements about migrants

Corruption Watch condemns the recent reprehensible statements made by Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba in which he describes illegal immigrants in Johannesburg’s inner city as criminals who should be dealt with as such. The mayor was delivering a speech to mark his first 100 days in office. The organisation calls on the DA to repudiate these Read more >