Deportation threat to census

South Africa's decision to resume deporting undocumented immigrants from Zimbabwe could undermine efforts to lure foreigners to come forward to be counted in a national census beginning tomorrow, a top official has said.

Statistician-General Pali Lehohla said the move by the Department of Home Affairs to deport illegal foreigners, whether they are Zimbabwean or of whatever nationality, was a "legitimate exercise" meant to ensure immigration laws were upheld.

But he said choosing the eve of census to resume expelling illegal Zimbabwean immigrants - after a nearly three-year hiatus - was an "unfortunate coincidence" likely to impact negatively on the enumeration exercise.

"It may certainly impact on the exercise," said Lehohla, the head of Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), the government data agency carrying out the census.

"It makes life difficult for us. It will complicate our lives in terms of people trusting what we are saying [that information given to enumerators will not be used against those giving it]," he said.

Lehohla suggested, without making a firm commitment, that he might have to approach his colleagues at Home Affairs to request that they postpone deportations until conclusion of the census.

South Africa is home to millions of immigrants from across Africa, many of them living in the country illegally. Failure to record the number of immigrants correctly has potential to significantly distort the census.

To ensure an accurate count, Stats SA has gone out of its way to encourage foreign nationals, including illegal immigrants, to come out to be counted, promising them that information collected by its enumerators would not be passed on to immigration officials.

But the decision by Home Affairs almost two weeks ago to restart deporting illegal Zimbabweans could achieve exactly the opposite, by scaring away the immigrants, who will feel safer staying underground than coming out into the open, where there is greater risk of being caught and deported.

A refugee rights group, the People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (Passop), said the move to deport illegal Zimbabwean immigrants simultaneously with the census had created an atmosphere of fear and paranoia, not only among Zimbabweans, but within the immigrant community in general.

"Fear and paranoia have begun among immigrants. It is obvious that, sadly, many immigrants in South Africa will 'go underground' into hiding and be unwilling to open doors to officials conducting the census," the group said in a statement.

But Home Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa dismissed Passop's concerns, saying the group does not speak on behalf of Zimbabweans. He said while the South African government would ensure that the rights of foreigners were protected it was, however, not going to allow illegal immigration.

Mamoepa said Zimbabweans who applied for the regularisation of their stay through the Zimbabwean documentation project would not be deported even if they had yet to receive permits from the department.

He said: "Nobody who has applied for the regularisation of their stay in South Africa will be subject to deportation, as their stay is protected in our rules and regulations."

Home Affairs two weeks ago said it had issued 142732 permits out of the 275762 applications received by the end of December last year, the deadline that the department gave undocumented Zimbabweans to submit applications for permits.