Zimbabweans living in South Africa are feeling the pinch of the steep fall of the rand against the US dollar. Because they are earning rands, they are able to send less money home.
Bernard Chiguvare
News | 14 September 2015
Fanuel (not his real name) teaches at a high school in Gaetsewe District in Northern Cape Province. He says he was last paid in June 2015 because his Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP) renewal application to the Department of Home Affairs is still pending. He appears to be one of dozens of foreign nationals in a similar position.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 11 September 2015
Saeed Furaa arrived in South Africa in 1998 after fleeing Somalia where he had worked as a shepherd. Against the backdrop of xenophobic violence in April, Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said that foreigners needed to share their business practices with local business owners. Yet this is exactly what Furaa and other Somalis have been doing.
Yumna Mohamed
News | 7 September 2015
The phrasing of the Refugee Amendment Bill calls into question the commitment of the Department of Home Affairs to uphold its obligations under the UN Refugee Convention, write Aleck Kuhudzai and Deborah Won of the Agency for Refugee Education, Skills Training and Advocacy (ARESTA).
Aleck Kuhudzai and Deborah Won
Opinion | 2 September 2015
The promise by Home Affairs minister Malusi Gigaba that rejected applications for Zimbabwean Special Permits are to be reviewed has been welcomed.
Bernard Chiguvare
Brief | 1 September 2015
The cost of sending money across national borders has been falling rapidly over the last ten years, everywhere in the world, but Sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive region, and sending money from South Africa to neighbouring countries appears to carry the highest costs of all.
Ben Stanwix and Tariro Washinyira
News | 24 August 2015
On 13 August 2015, Potchefstroom police station cells security officer Buisanang Malefane told GroundUp on the phone that Malvern and Hamilton Mugwagwa, who are in their custody, have no right to appear before a magistrate because they are unlawfully in the country. They were arrested on 5 August 2015 at a roadblock in Potchefstroom on their way from Cape Town back to Zimbabwe.
Tariro Washinyira
Brief | 14 August 2015
Six Zimbabwean men have accused a Stikland trucking company of dismissing them for having joined the Motor Transport Workers’ Union of South Africa (MTWU). They accuse the company of exploitation and ill treatment, and claim they are owed pay.
Tariro Washinyira
Feature | 6 August 2015
After the 2008 xenophobic attacks which left 62 people dead and thousands displaced and homeless, the attention of South Africans shifted back to the many other social issues that plague South Africa’s conscience. Urgency was lost and prevention of xenophobia and violence became mundane.
Marike Keller
Opinion | 5 August 2015
The immigrant rights group People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) is concerned that hundreds of Zimbabweans are being told to leave South Africa imminently.
Bernard Chiguvare
News | 4 August 2015
A freelance reporter for GroundUp found himself all but held hostage on his way back hitchhiking from Zimbabwe.
Bernard Chiguvare
News | 23 July 2015
The controversial “white house” in Hout Bay, scene of the murder earlier this month of a Congolese resident, could be demolished in August, says Brett Herron, mayoral committee member for transport.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 22 July 2015
Operation Fiela was instituted in May for two months in response to xenophobic violence in Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the South African Police Service (SAPS) carry out its raids.
Mariska Morris
News | 7 July 2015
A Nigerian trader arrested at Cape Town station during Operation Fiela on World Refugee Day has described how he was accused of drug dealing.
Bernard Chiguvare
News | 2 July 2015
On 23 June the Pretoria High Court struck from the roll an application by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) that tried to put an urgent end to Operation Fiela. Lara Wallis explains why this is deeply concerning.
Lara Wallis
Opinion | 1 July 2015
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) marks 55 years of independence today but many Congolese who fled to Cape Town say there’s nothing to celebrate since the country is at war and the government does not reflect the will of the people.
Bernard Chiguvare
Brief | 30 June 2015