PHOTOS: South African Court Halts Deportation Of Hundreds Of Immigrants

South African Police officers backed by soldiers from the South African Defence Force SADF arrest illegal immigrants and foreign nationals during a raid in in the Johannesburg CBD last week Photo: Mujahid Safodien/AFP

South Africa’s High Court on Wednesday in Johannesburg halted the deportation of hundreds of African immigrants who were arrested in the wake of the recent wave of xenophobic violence.

David Cote, the lawyer for Human Rights Organization, said that the migrants, believed to number between 280 and 400, were detained at a Johannesburg Church and in the central business district on Friday.

He said that a court order was obtained on Tuesday to halt their deportation for two weeks and to gain access to them to discuss their situation.

Vanguard reports:

Cote said “the court order does not concern hundreds of others who have been arrested in Johannesburg and Durban in recent weeks.

“We don’t know if any of them have already been deported, but it will obviously be difficult for the government to deport such large number of people.”

He criticized the arrest as an “inappropriate response” to xenophobic attacks on immigrants from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Congo and other countries in April. “At least, seven people were killed and thousands left homeless and foreign-owned shops looted,’’ he said.

Cote said South African government was responding to concerns about the presence of illegal immigrants, stressing, however, that “some of those arrested are asylum seekers.”

South Africa Could Be Sending Migrants To Deaths' With Forced Removal Operation

Operation Sweep Out the Dirt, launched two weeks ago by ministers responding to xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa, has resulted in hundreds of people being detained.

The Telegraph UK reports the South African government could have further deaths on its hands if it forcibly removes African asylum seekers rounded up as part of its response to the xenophobic violence that broke out last month, human rights lawyers have warned.

South African Police officers and soldiers from the South African Defence Force SADF stand in front of migrants sitting after raiding buildings in Johannesburg (AFP)

Instead of protecting those vulnerable to attack, the authorities have "deployed the full force of state machinery to hunt them down", Wayne Ncube, from Lawyers for Human Rights, said.

Hundreds are being held either in police stations or a deportation centre outside Johannesburg, he added, largely denied access to lawyers or appeals against being returned home.

"We are very worried at how quickly these deportations are taking place and the manner in which they are being done," he said. "Particularly for refugees - you cannot send a person back to a place where they might suffer persecution or torture. If all the processes are not being followed then we might be sending people to their deaths."

Mr Ncube spoke at a press conference organised by civil society groups who are calling for an immediate end to Operation Fiela, Sweep out the Dirt, whose launch was announced two weeks ago by an inter-ministerial task team set up by President Jacob Zuma to deal with the xenophobic violence. The attacks, which started in Durban last month, resulted in the deaths of at least seven people and thousands more fleeing their homes.

In a statement last week, the government rejected as "malicious" claims that Operation Fiela was targeted at foreigners, saying it was designed to root out criminality. But rough numbers of those detained supplied by the authorities suggest that most are over suspected immigration violations. 

South Africa Home Affairs Director General Mkuseli Apleni

On Monday, lawyers for Human Rights secured an urgent high court interdict on the deportation of those rounded up in raids on buildings on Friday including a church which has sheltered Zimbabweans fleeing Robert Mugabe's regime for decades.

Mr Ncube said police had ignored a previous court order for his group to have access to those detained, some of whom he alleged had been beaten during their detention.

Stephen Faulkner, a spokesman for South African trade unions opposing Operation Fiela, said the raids had seen people woken by armed security forces in the middle of the night, separated from their belongings including life-saving medication for HIV and tuberculosis, and held with their children in police cells. "Is that honestly the image South Africa wants to project across the world?" he said.