Immigration
Women living in terror plan march in Grahamstown
In the blistering hot conference room of the Masifunde Education and Development Project Trust, 14 women with determined calm put together a statement: 'The police have told us that we must not go ahead with our planned protest at the City Hall on Friday as they cannot guarantee our safety. We cannot and will not back down'. The Voices of the Foreigner’s Wives represent a large number of women still too afraid to leave their homes after the spate of xenophobic violence that shook Grahamstown a week ago.
Hancu Louw
News | 29 October 2015
Some panic as Zimbabwean special permit closes
On Monday, panicked applicants who had not yet received their Zimbabwean Special Dispensation Permit (ZSP) started queuing outside the ABSA building in central Cape Town for help.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 8 October 2015
How bureaucracy is delaying Virginia’s dream of being a doctor
Virginia Sibanda, like thousands of youth across South Africa in November 2014, was hunched over a desk, pen in hand, taking her matric exams. Her years of accumulated academic trophies and certificates culminated in these papers. She had attended tutoring sessions, practiced the past exams, and had applied to universities to pursue her dream of studying medicine.
Sarita Pillay
Feature | 1 October 2015
From Flavier to Flavina: a refugee’s story of courage and survival
When Flavina walks the streets of Delft, with her long earrings, nose piercing and colourful clothes, people turn around to stare. Tall, elegant and feminine, Flavina used to be Flavier. Born as a male in Burundi 33 years ago, she came to South Africa to live openly as a woman.
Juliette Garms
News | 22 September 2015
Zimbabweans in SA feel pinch of weak rand
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
Zimbabwean teachers in Northern Cape are desperate following months without pay
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
How South Africans are learning from Somali businesses
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
Refugee amendment bill is a mistake
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
Minister’s promise to review Zimbabwean permits welcomed
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