SA Government, Law Enforcement Violates Undocumented Foreigners Rights When Detained, Study Shows

• Lawyers for Human Rights released the Status of Immigration Detention in South Africa report
• The report showed that, for the most part, South African law enforcement officers and government officials violate undocumented foreigners' human rights when they are under arrest
• The Lawyers for Human Rights told Briefly News what treatment foreign nationals experience at the hands of law enforcement
• South Africans called the police officers who allegedly abused detained immigrants out

Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News's current affairs journalist, offered coverage of current affairs and societal issues during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

The Lawyers for Human Rights launched a report which examined the status of detained immigrants in South Africa. They found that officials and law enforcement tend to abuse detained illegal immigrants. They also found that the abuse happens within two days of being arrested and breaks the law in the process.

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Report reveals officials committing human rights violation

The organisation released the Status of Immigration Detention in South Africa report on 11 December. The report detailed how law enforcement, the government and government officials mistreat detained undocumented foreign nationals. The report revealed that migrants, whether documented or otherwise, are afraid of being stopped by the police, and the report states that this is because of law enforcement detaining immigrants as a form of institutionalised xenophobia.

Although South African law states that undocumented foreigners should be detained for 48 hours, the report found that police officers in South Africa detain undocumented foreigners for more extended periods. Corrupt immigration officers have also allegedly detained immigrants for over 30 days without bringing them in front of a magistrate.

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LHR reveals to Briefly News more details of abuse

Tumelo Mogale from the Lawyers for Human Rights revealed how terrible the situation is to Briefly News.

"Some of the client’s passports and asylum seeker permits were confiscated, and their money was also taken, and after they were released, they were never given their permit and their money back. Most of them had to pay bribes after SAPS officials demanded money and started threatening them with deportation.

"Others, after being arrested, were kept in a police van the whole day without being charged or taken to the Police Station. When you look at all these kinds of treatment and based on our experiences, one would conclude to say that the SAPS officials are abusing their power to extort money from Migrants and asylum seekers within the country," he said.

SA slams officers' conduct

Netizens on Facebook agreed with the report and questioned some law enforcement officers' conduct.

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Mar Vegas said:

“How can you arrest poor Africans because of not having passports while there are many criminals in the country?”

Tonny Murhula Musanganya asked:

“They can say that again. Do these police go for training before being employed? Some of them conduct themselves in an unprofessional manner.”

Prosper Dube added:

“To my surprise, only fellow black fricans are recognized s illegal immigrants while colonisers are walking free and recognized as investors even without proper documents.”

Dintwe Dipholo observed:

“This must stop because their grandparents were migrants during apartheid.”

Police officers assault foreign national in viral video

In a related story, Briefly News reported that Cape Town police officers viciously assaulted a foreign national working at a salon.

The man's assault went viral, and the video, which was 10 minutes long, shows the officers taking turns assaulting the man. It's alleged that the police officers were looking for someone when the man looked outside the window. The officers spotted him and flooded into his room, assaulting him in various ways.

Source: Briefly News