Oversight Visit Committee Reports / Visit to Cape Town Refugee Reception Centre
Home Affairs
16 October 2007
Meeting Summary
A summary of this committee meeting is not yet available.
Meeting report
HOME AFFAIRS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE16 October 2007
OVERSIGHT VISIT COMMITTEE REPORTS / VISIT TO CAPE TOWN REFUGEE RECEPTION CENTRE
Chairperson: Mr H Chauke (ANC)
Documents handed out:
Committee Report of Oversight Visit to Department, 30 July-3 August 2007
Committee Report of Study Tour to Germany, 4-12 June 2006
Committee Report of Study Tour to Berlin, Germany, 20-27 June 2007
Joint Peace & Stability Cluster Committees Report of Oversight Visit to border posts, 9-13 July 2007
Joint Health & Home Affairs Committees' Report: Oversight Visit to Mbizana 17 Sept 2007
Draft minutes of 8 May 2007
Draft minutes of 15 May 2007
Draft minutes of 16 May 2007
Draft minutes of 22 May 2007
Draft minutes of 24 August 2007
[All Reports available at Committee Reports once published]
Relevant Documents:
Cape Argus news article: Refugee allegedly held in a cage 18 October 2007 (see Appendix)
Cape Times news article Is SA mistreating its refugees? 18 October 2007(see Appendix)
NOT RECORDED
SUMMARY
In a brief meeting the Chair explained the reason for the change in agenda, read a letter of apology from the
Minister of Home Affairs and noted that the proposed meeting with
the Minister and the Department had
been postponed to Tuesday 23
October.
The agenda consisted of the Chair tabling ten reports and draft
minutes to be considered at a later meeting,
as well as brief discussion around the
Minister's apology, the opening of new border posts, and the recent
action at the Cape Town
Harbour Refugee Reception Centre. The meeting was adjourned and the members
were asked to reassemble later that day,
subject to the approval of Parliament, to visit the Refugee Centre.
MINUTES
The Chairperson welcomed everyone, especially the new Democratic
Alliance representative Mr Mark Lowe
who was attending for the first time.
Mr Chauke asked Mr Lowe to introduce himself.
Mr M Lowe (DA) formally introduced himself to the Committee and
mentioned that he would be the DA
spokesperson for this
Committee and had been a Member of Parliament for six years. Mr Lowe expressed
his anticipation for working with the
Committee.
The Chair explained to the Committee the reason for the change of
agenda. At their last meeting the
Committee had raised some issues concerning the Department and the
Auditor General that they felt would
be better addressed by the Minister in
a Committee meeting. Having requested the Minister's presence, the
Chair had received a letter on Friday 12 October noting that she
was not able to attend this meeting due to a
prior commitment, and asking for an
alternative date for the requested engagement. The Chair resolved that
Tuesday 23 October would be made available for the Minister and
the Department of Home Affairs to appear before the Committee.
Ms I Mars (IFP) said that the discussion would be very important
and thanked the Chair for acting on the
Committee's behalf. She agreed with
the proposed date as set by the Chair. Mr K Morwamoche (ANC)
supported Ms Mars.
The Chair then moved to the amended agenda for the meeting: the
adoption of outstanding minutes and
reports. It was made
clear that not all committee members had received the documents and as such
they
were not in a position to adopt them.
The Chair decided rather to table the minutes and reports and they
would be considered formally at a later
date, before the end of October. He requested that they go through
the committee papers carefully as they
were important in compiling the annual report.
The Chair tabled the following list of committee papers to be
considered by the members:
- Draft minutes of the Portfolio Committee meeting of 8 May 2007
- Draft minutes of the Portfolio Committee meeting of 15 May 2007
- Draft minutes of the Portfolio Committee meeting of 16 May 2007
- Draft minutes of the Portfolio Committee meeting of 22 May 2007
- Draft minutes of the Portfolio Committee meeting of 24 August
2007
- Report of the Study Tour to Germany, 4-12 June 2006
- Report of the Study Tour to Berlin, Germany, 20-27 June 2007
- Report of Joint Peace and Stability Cluster Committee's Visit to
border posts, 9-13 July 2007
- Report of the Portfolio Committee's oversight of 30 July to 03
August 2007
- Report of Joint Health and Home Affairs oversight visit to
Mbizana 17 Sept 2007
The Chair enquired as to the minutes of the Department of Health's
investigation into the Marabastad offices. The Committee Secretary was asked to
make copies available to the Members.
The Chair raised a concern about information he had received about
a demonstration by refugees at the
Refugee Reception Centre at the harbour the day before. There had
been planned action by the refugees
and asylum seekers that ended with the
police being called in to disperse the demonstration. This incident
had to be addressed and he suggested
the Committee obtain further information and meet with the regional
manager for Home Affairs
in the Western Cape. He felt that a visit to the Centre needed to be arrange
urgently to observe the
service that was being given. He asked for suggestions on how to deal with this
issue.
Mr Morwamoche said that it was proper for the Committee to visit
the site, especially if it was close by. He
mentioned that on the
public news African refugees at the Centre had complained of discrimination on
the
basis of skin colour, and that this was
totally against public service etiquette.
Ms F Mathibela (ANC) agreed with the Chair's suggestion of a visit
to the Centre.
Ms Mars suggested the afternoon of 22 October.
The Chair noted the urgency of the matter. He proposed that, as
the meeting was short, the Committee
reassemble at the Poorthuis
at noon to visit the Centre. This was agreed to.
As the final point of the agenda, the Chair tabled the letter from
the Minister of Home Affairs and read it to
the Committee. The letter noted that
the Minster had a prior arrangement that day to attend the opening of a
new border post. She requested a later
date.
Mr Morwamoche made a comment about the nature of the Minister's
prior engagement. He voiced the point
that some of the issues that the
Committee were grappling with concerned communication between the
Minister and her Department, and the
Committee. He mentioned that years ago they had passed laws and a
budget that allowed
port of entries to be manned by police. He was concerned that there were new
ports
being opened without people to staff it
according to the country's immigration laws.
The Chair mentioned that Mr Morwamoche had a good point. He drew
the Committee's attention to page five of the report of the oversight visit in
Mbizana where they had noted border posts that were still manned by police –
this needed to be attended to. It was a point that was relevant and was noted
for the following
week's meeting.
The Chair stated that for the 23 October meeting with the
Department to be relevant, the Committee must
raise all the issues that they had
previously highlighted and their recommendations. He asked the research
unit to go through previous reports and
minutes (even up to five years ago) and compile a list of all the
recommendations the Committee
had made to the Department.
Mr W Skhosana (ANC) referred to Mr Morwamoche's point. He asked
whether it was appropriate that a
border post was opened
without the Committee being informed or present. As it was the Committee that
would have to manage oversight of the
border post, they should be involved. He wondered as to the actual
process taken in this
regard by neighbouring countries.
The Chair said that Mr Skhosana was correct. There were a number
of border posts which had been
opened, and the
question of when did the Committee get involved needed to be raised the
following week.
The meeting was adjourned to reconvene at noon to visit the
Refugee Centre at the harbour. The ANC
members remained behind
for a private meeting.
The meeting was adjourned.
Appendix:
Cape Argus news article: Refugee allegedly held in a cage 18 October 2007
The home affairs department's refugee offices in
Cape Town was a "chaotic" place where refugees were treated
like animals, a parliamentary committee said.
The MPs, on an unannounced visit to the refugee offices on the
Foreshore, found that officials illegally detained refugees.
Members of the home affairs portfolio committee rescued a refugee
who was detained for several hours in a
cage inside a filthy toilet.
At the facility there was the most "inhumane treatment of
refugees by the department's officials", the MPs said on Wednesday.
Asylum seekers' applications were strewn all over the offices. The
committee also found no home affairs official attending to the scores of
refugees who were in the offices.
The offices had been practically taken over by what committee
chairperson Patrick Chauke described as
"syndicates", who claim to be
members of some NGOs.
It was difficult to distinguish between a Home Affairs official
and members of the "syndicates", as the latter had full access to
applications forms, computers and other equipment in the office.
Chauke said senior officials of the department would be hauled
before the committee to explain the mess at the offices.
The committee's visit was prompted by a demonstration by
Zimbabwean refugees outside the offices on
Monday.
In April a report by the department found that the country's five
refugee reception centres were overwhelmed
by the number of applications.
It was recommended that R42,5-million be
spent to upgrade the centres to meet the basic legal obligation to
asylum seekers to South
Africa.
The draft report followed a finding by a Pretoria High Court in
November last year that Home Affairs' practices when dealing with refugees at
the Marabastad and Rosettenville offices were unlawful.
The report found there was a backlog of between 30 000 and 48 000
applications for refugee status.
This excluded about 50 000 people who had visited the five centres
that handled applications, but were
awaiting first
appointments to receive the mandatory asylum seekers' (Section 22) permit to
temporarily
legalise their stay in
South Africa.
Pretoria High Court Judge Pierre Rabie said the country was in a
crisis because of the hundreds of thousands of unemployed illegal foreigners
within its borders - many of whom were asylum seekers waiting for their
applications to be processed.
"I cannot imagine how these people can survive without
turning to crime," he said in a judgment deemed to be
a victory for asylum seekers.
He said the price to be paid to ensure their applications were
processed without delay was a drop in the ocean measured against the price the
country was paying for crime.
In September Tshwane executive mayor Dr Gwen Ramokgopa approved a
clean-up of the Marabastad offices after the two-week long municipal strike.
Ramokgopa spoke to several of the refugees and said that Pretoria
was a city where human dignity was
respected.
Cape Times news article Is SA mistreating
its refugees? 18 October 2007
by Jade Witten
Police have warned people who sleep outside the Home Affairs
office for refugees on the Foreshore that they would be arrested if they defied
the law.
The threat came only hours after members of parliament slammed the
Department of Home Affairs for the
inhumane treatment of the
refugees.
Meanwhile, parliament has immediately taken steps to improve the
processing of refugees, by announcing that a new office will be opened on
Monday.
Patrick Chauke, head of parliament's Home Affairs portfolio
committee, led a nine-member committee
delegation on an
unannounced visit to the centre on Wednesday, following reports of widespread
problems, including corruption and abuse of refugees.
On Wednesday, Chauke was visibly angered when he discovered a
refugee being held in a makeshift cell in
toilets on suspicion of
stealing a cellphone.
The steel mesh door of the "cell" had been locked with
handcuffs. The dazed man, who had been caged for
three hours, burst into tears when Chauke
ordered he be freed.
Chauke was outraged by conditions at the centre and the
"arrogance" of staff. He found rubbish on the floors, unattended
computers and "arrogant" staff.
Braam Hanekom, spokesperson of the refugee advocacy group People Against Suffering Suppression
Oppression and Poverty (Passop), said "it was
heartbreaking" to see the police action.
Hanekom said he would speak to his lawyers on Thursday to obtain
an order for alternative accommodation.
"The refugees have nowhere to go. Worst-case scenario, we
will load everyone on trucks and move them
somewhere," he said.
Chauke told officials at the centre that there would
"definitely" be an unannounced follow-up visit in due course.
He was assured conditions would have improved by then.
Plans are to be announced on Friday to open a new office on Monday
to process first-time applications in a bid to ease the pressure at the refugee
centre.
Passop welcomed the pledge by the government and was
"positive" about the outcome of Wednesday's surprise visit, Hanekom
said.
Chauke, who was horrified by conditions at the dirty, ill-lit and
"chaotic" centre on Wednesday, was shocked on being led to the toilet
where he found the refugee locked up "like an animal".
"I really condemn this," Chauke said. "It's
unacceptable, it's dark inside there and you can't even breathe.
People need to be treated in a more humane way," he said.
Chauke said the visit had left the delegation with an impression
of "unacceptable circumstances".
"There is no order here. The first responsibility is to
manage the queueing outside. That's where it all starts," he said.
In an hour-long meeting with the portfolio committee delegation,
Yolisa Mzamane, assistant director at the
offices, admitted the environment
in which officials worked was not conducive to service delivery.
Late on Wednesday, Martha Mgxashe, provincial manager of Home
Affairs, was called to a meeting to discuss conditions at the refugee centre.
Chauke said he was "quite satisfied" after their
discussion.
He said the department had made a plan to attend to first-time
applicants at a separate venue - to be
announced tomorrow - and
which would begin operating on Monday.