November Migration News

Dear SAMP readers:
Please find below Southern African migration news for November 2001 as
compiled by SAMP.
Regards,
Christina
SAMP Administrator

Angola:
Border curfew could trap refugees inside Angola

DRC:
Countries meet in Kinshasa to coordinate refugee policies and efforts

Namibia:
Tanzanian businesswoman claims ministerial harassment
German accuses Special Field Force of malicious conduct
Red Cross withdraws from Osire Refugee Camp

South Africa:
Israeli PM calls on SA Jews to return to homeland
Officers jailed for 'cruel act'
Dog handlers' sentencing gets mixed reaction
Dog unit trail: 'Justice has been served'
Home Affairs incurs heavy legal costs in 82 lawsuits
Northern Province farmers reluctantly agree to apply for work permits
SAPS partly to blame for dog attack: court hears
Editors Forum condemns intimidation of journalists in Zimbabwe
Dog handlers show real remorse says criminologist
Racism alive in SA
On the edge of a moral precipice
Crime justified setting dogs on illegal migrants
Convicted dog policemen were "victims of a system", court told
Police commander testifies in dog trial
SA, Botswana to discuss border security
Cop dogs trained on crime suspects, court hears
Another Home Affairs official arrested
Home Affairs employee walks into police trap
NNP welcomes dog unit cops conviction
Farmers seek work permits for thousands of Zimbabweans
Four dog cops guilty of assaulting Mozambicans
Police dog attack: four found guilty
'We were training the dogs to bite humans'
Buthelezi defends Deputy DG, Ivan Lambinon
Illegal Zimbabwean workers must be treated humanely: says Mbeki
1,822 child refugees in SA
Hillbrow raid on migrants
Meeting between Mbeki and Buthelezi fails to resolve dispute over DG
Nation stunned by cop brutality footage
Parliamentary Committee defends Aliens Control Act
Minister cautions against Islamophobia
Nearly 1,200 Mozambicans nabbed in one month
Failure to deal with Home Affairs saga undermines democracy says IFP
Graduates gain skills, then leave SA says Manuel
Home Affairs separates services for citizens and foreigners
Buthelezi downplays meeting with Mbeki about DG Masetlha

Tanzania:
WFP feeds 486,900 refugees in Tanzania
Dar es Salaam urged not to repatriate Bujumbura refugees
Tanzania expels Ugandans
More refugees arrive in Pemba
Last refugees to fly home from Kenya

Zambia:
Congolese rebels force villagers to flee
Government seeks help over Angolan refugees
Officials meet over border clashes with Angola
Zambia sends military team to Angola over border trouble
Angola denies Zambia's accusations of border incursions
Government seeks more aid for refugees
Border tense as villagers return
Angolan refugees continue to flee into Zambia

Zimbabwe:
World media body concerned over Zimbabwe threats to journalists
Zimbabweans continue to seek land in Mozambique
Zimbabweans enrol in foreign universities in record numbers
US assails Zimbabwe over tactics against journalists
Press group slams Zimbabwe over treatment of journalists
US calls for Zimbabwe to relax press controls
302 tobacco farmers quit
Kenyan commentary on Zimbabwean crisis
Zimbabwe accuses foreign journalists of aiding 'terrorists'
Zimbabwe to insist on ID cards to combat terrorism

Angola

Border curfew could trap refugees inside Angola (Irin, 2/11) - On Monday 29
October, the UN refugee agency warned that Angolan refugees, many fleeing
intense fighting in the central and southeastern provinces, could be
prevented from seeking safety across the Namibian border because of a curfew
along the Kavango river. The Namibian government imposed a dusk-to-dawn
curfew along a 450 km stretch of the river-border with Angola on 17 October,
citing the risk of night incursions by Angolan rebel movement UNITA. In
terms of the curfew, no one can travel within 200 m of the river bank
between 18H00 and 06H00. A report on UNHCR's website said the refugees
crossing into Namibia mostly tried to cross the border at night or at
unofficial crossing points to avoid Angolan government and UNITA patrols,
making them particularly vulnerable. When the curfew was imposed, the
Namibian military said those who violated the restrictions would be shot.
DRC

Countries meet in Kinshasa to coordinate refugee policies and efforts (Irin,
1/11) - Representatives from the governments of the Central African
Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo,
Gabon and Angola met last week in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, to synchronise
their policies and efforts on behalf of refugees and internally displaced
persons (IDPs) in the region. The meeting was organised by the l'Association
des Parlementaires Europeens pour l'Afrique (AWEPA), in collaboration with
the government of the DRC and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, from 24
to 26 Oct. AWEPA is an association of current and former members of national
parliaments in Europe that works "to support the functioning of parliaments
in Africa and to keep Africa on the political agenda in Europe". Primary
objectives of the conference included the promotion of human rights and in
particular the rights of refugees, with special attention to women and
children in light of their vulnerability; seeking long-term solutions to the
problems of refugees and IDPs with a view to a safe return to their place of
origin; and adoption in each country of national legislation and a national
commission for refugees where no such thing already exists. Discussions were
held regarding the possibilities of expanding the mandate of UNHCR to
increase their capacity to assist IDPs uprooted by war, and providing
assistance to local populations that host refugees. Participants also sought
to address such issues as the promotion of peaceful relations among the
countries as a necessary condition for "harmonious and integrated
development"; the promotion of democracy and good governance as imperative
for peace and sustainable development; and the fight against exclusion,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and "all forms of ethnic tension".
Representatives agreed to encourage feasibility studies for projects of
common interest to central African states with a view toward elevating the
standard of living. At the end of the conference a statement was issued,
called the "Declaration de Kinshasa", that summarised the themes discussed
and called for continued cooperation among the nations to ensure that
proposals made during this meeting would come to fruition. AWEPA is due to
publish a complete account of the conference.

Namibia

Tanzanian businesswoman claims ministerial harassment (The Namibian,
Windhoek, 30/11) - Higher Education and Employment Creation Deputy Minister,
Hadino Hishongwa, has been accused of using "abusive tactics" to try and
oust a Tanzanian national from a tailoring joint venture she runs with his
cousins. Elizabeth Mwakatobe, a Tanzanian fashion designer who described
herself as Hishongwa's long-time "personal family friend", said the Deputy
Minister had instructed that the door locks at the business in Windhoek be
replaced with new ones without her consent. "I don't understand his
interference. He has no stake in this business - why is he doing this?" she
asked. "His cousins are my partners and not the honourable Minister."
Mwakatobe is a 50 per cent shareholder in Namsmart Tailoring and General
Supplies. Hishongwa's cousin Bibby Kalokwe owns 25 per cent, while another
cousin, Veronica Nghipondoka, holds the remaining 25 per cent. When she
found the locks at her business complex broken, Mwakatobe went to the Police
station yesterday and pressed charges of housebreaking, pointing a finger at
Hishongwa. The Police confirmed that a charge of housebreaking had been laid
by Mwakatobe. An investigation has been launched. Contacted for comment,
Hishongwa claimed he was acting in good faith. "I don't think there is
really any story here," he said. He said he gave an instruction for the
office to be locked with different locks because there were "sensitive
documents in the office. It was just for the protection of the documents
while she was away. I thought I was doing it for her good sake," Hishongwa
maintained. Mwakatobe, who has just applied for the renewal of her work
permit, said she fears the Deputy Minister might use his influence to evict
her from the country. Hishongwa admitted that he had brought Mwakatobe to
Namibia, but stressed he had no intention of "foul play at all". Mwakatobe
said she met the Deputy Minister when he was still a Swapo representative in
Sweden in 1979. "I was still a student in fashion, designing by then."
Hishongwa then invited her to come from Tanzania to make material for the
Swapo election campaign in 1989, which she did. "While I was at home
(Tanzania) Hishongwa asked me to come and do business with people very well
known to him - Kalokwe and Nghipondoka," she said. Since she trusted
Hishongwa, she abandoned her tailoring factory in Tanzania to come and open
a business in Windhoek. When she arrived in Namibia in 1998, none of her
business partners had the start-up capital to establish the business.
Mwakatobe had to import her own heavy duty industrial tailoring machines
from her Tanzanian business by train, via Victoria Falls. "After all the
financial difficulties I have gone through ... now the Minister is treating
me this way. I do not deserve to be harassed by someone so close to me," she
said. Kalokwe said her relationship with Mwakatobe was on a sound footing,
but refused to comment on her uncle's behaviour.

German accuses Special Field Force of malicious conduct (The Namibian,
Windhoek, 27/11) - A Windhoek West resident who complained about harassment
from the Special Field Force says she received a return visit from the SFF
during which they threatened her. Pearl Coetzee related her first ordeal at
the hands of the force members to The Namibian last week, saying an SFF raid
on Wednesday had reminded her of Apartheid-style policing. The report was
published in the newspaper on Thursday. In the early hours of Saturday, more
than 20 Special Field Force (SFF) members launched a second raid on
Coetzee's flat. One officer threatened to harm her physically because she
had gone to the media, Coetzee said. A certain Warrant FS Uukule allegedly
told her that "we will deal with you if you go to the media again. We are
going to squeeze you." The force members went through her bedroom and
impounded two Nikon cameras and lenses with a combined value of around N$25
000. "I am afraid ... I am scared. I don't know what will happen to me. I am
more worried about my Xavier (her seven-year-old son) if this Uukule means
what he says," said Coetzee. The security force members allegedly threatened
to smash down her door, when she failed to respond promptly when they
demanded entry on Saturday. "They were shouting, 'Mrs Coetzee open up ... we
know you are inside the house. If you don't open we will force through this
door'," she added. When they went into her room, the SFF members pulled out
"tampons from my wardrobe and started poking fun at me asking questions like
'what is this?' When I explained they were giggling, making comments such as
'Mrs Coetzee has an attitude today'." She said the SFF members told her to
fetch her cameras at the Wanaheda Police Station. Coetzee eventually got her
cameras back on Sunday afternoon. Warrant Officer Uukule refused to comment
on his alleged threats and slammed the phone down, when approached for
comment. After confiscating her cameras, the SFF members proceeded to her
neighbour, a German citizen, Malte Engelin, who is a consultant with the
Roads Contractor Company. "When they came here I thought there was somebody
breaking in until they started shouting 'police ... police ... police',"
Engelin told The Namibian yesterday. He claimed that "half of these guys
were drunk. They were smelling of alcohol." Engelin said when he asked them
for a search warrant they just forced their way into his flat. "They did not
have any letter or whatsoever to state that they have obtained approval or
to show that they are on official duty." Some of the Police officers were
not in uniform, he added. Engelin said he was going to compile a report
about his experience for the German Embassy which arranged his contract with
the Namibian Government. Police spokesperson Chief Inspector Hophni
Hamufungu confirmed the raid and impounding of the cameras by the security
force officers. On the threats to Coetzee, Hamufungu denied that Warrant
Officer Uukule had made any such statement. Hamufungu claimed Uukule had
only told Coetzee that since she always complained to the media she could go
to the media again. He said some members of the Police, by the nature of
their work, were not required to wear uniforms. "Mind you, we are also
assisted by the Municipality security officers and the Namibia Defence
Force." He said a weekend Police operation had been successful and had
rounded up a lot of illegal immigrants and stolen items.

Red Cross withdraws from Osire Refugee Camp (Irin, 21/11) - The Namibian Red
Cross Society (NRCS) is withdrawing its services from the Osire refugee
camp. "We will be withdrawing as of 31 December 2001," Geniene Veii, deputy
secretary-general of the NRCS told IRIN on Tuesday. "Part of the reason that
we are doing this is because of a lack of donor funding and partly because
donors have been slow in making payments." "It needs to be emphasised that
we are not abandoning the refugees and we will continue with some services
such as tracing which includes re-establishing links between families." she
said. The NRCS has, up to now, acted as UNHCR's main implementing partner at
the camp, helping with issues such as sanitation, food distribution and
water provision. The Osire camp is situated about 220 km northeast of
Windhoek and houses about 21,000 refugees, most of whom are Angolan. UNHCR
in Namibia told IRIN that it was informed of the NRCS decision in September.
"We have had some time to prepare and we have already approached some
organisations who might be willing to work with us at Osire," a UNHCR
spokesman said. Humanitarian sources told IRIN that shortfalls in funding
had in recent months affected services such as disease control and the
provision of sanitation to refugees. The UNHCR spokesman said that moving
the Osire camp to another site was still under discussion between UNHCR and
the government. "No definite site has been decided on yet and the government
is still looking for a suitable site. Both UNHCR and the government are
currently studying two reports that have been done on the issue," he said.

South Africa

Israeli PM calls on SA Jews to return to homeland (Business Day,
Johannesburg, 30/11) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon urged SA Jews
yesterday to emigrate to Israel a call that the SA Jewish Board of Deputies
described as understandable as part of a Zionist dream, but otherwise
unrealistic. He told a news conference in Tel Aviv he wanted to see a
million Jews immigrate to the Jewish state, principally from SA, Argentina
and France. "In the coming years, I want to see a million Jews come from
Argentina, France, and especially from SA," Sharon said. Russell Gaddin,
national chairman of the board, which is an umbrella body of SA Jewish
organisations, said: "One has to understand where Sharon comes from. Since
the establishment of the Israeli state, the government has been calling for
all Jews to come to Israel." Gaddin said Sharon might be specifically
referring to the three countries because there was a perception that there
was a lot of anti-semitism in those countries. "He may think there is a
danger to the Jewish people there. The continued pro-Palestinian statements
coming from our government might give the perception that Jews in SA are in
danger," Gaddin said. Gaddin said Sharon's call might also be influenced by
reports which said SA was the crime capital of the world, which might put
Jews in danger. "The first objective of the government is to bring another
million Jews soon," Sharon said. The mass immigration "may take 12 to 13
years, but it is central and in my eyes is the most important (task) of the
government". Israel has a population of about 6,5million people, of whom
5,2-million (81%) are Jews and 1,2-million (18,8%) Arabs. About 1-million
Jews have immigrated from the former Soviet Union, mainly Russia, in the
past decade. The board's national director, Yehunda Kay, said that for most
Jews, Israel was their spiritual homeland. "SA Jews are first and foremost
South Africans. We as the board have been telling them to live in this
country and work for its upliftment," Kay said. "Israel has a special place
in their hearts, it is their spiritual homeland." Sharon said there were
230000 Jews under duress in Argentina who needed to be brought over to the
Jewish state, and another 80000 in SA. Sharon alleged that the "750000 Jews
in France face anti-semitism. The state has 5-million Arabs."

Officers jailed for 'cruel act' (Toronto Star, Pretoria, 30/11) - Video
showed dogs being set on three Mozambican men. A South African judge
yesterday jailed four white police for up to five years for setting their
dogs on three black Mozambicans in a "cruel and sadistic" animal training
exercise. "They laughed and treated it as a joke. The three witnesses
(Mozambican victims) are clearly emotionally scarred and it was obviously
intensely traumatic," Judge Willem van der Merwe told the court during
sentencing. Robert Henzen 32, Eugene Truter, 28, Jacobus Smith, 31, and
Lodweyk Koch, 32, were convicted last week of seriously assaulting the three
Mozambican illegal immigrants in 1998. Their effective jail terms ranged
from five to four years. The four were captured on video-tape ordering their
dogs to attack the three Mozambicans, who sat silently, heads bowed, as the
judge sentenced their tormentors. The video, showing six police laughing as
the Mozambicans pleaded for mercy during the attack in a field near
Johannesburg, angered South Africans after it was screened by SABC state
television last year. The South African government, the defence lawyer and
an organization that monitors violence all welcomed the sentences. "Justice
has been seen to be served," Minister for Safety and Security Steve Tshwete
said in a statement. The three Mozambicans left immediately after the
sentencing under the protection of the elite Scorpions police unit. Their
lawyer Jose Nascimento advised them to return to Mozambique "very soon" for
their own safety. They plan to seek substantial damages. Smith, deemed the
ringleader, was sentenced to seven years, with two suspended. The other
three each got six years, with two years suspended. "The video shocked the
world," Judge Van der Merwe said. "The act was cruel and sadistic...it must
have been terrifying." Smith will appeal his term. Two other police
involved, Nicolaas Loubser, 27, and Dino Guitto, 27, face trial June 3 next
year. Using blacks to train dogs to bite has been common practice.

Dog handlers' sentencing gets mixed reaction (Business Day, 30/11) -
Yesterday's sentencing of four former police dog handlers to prison terms of
four and five years, met with mixed reaction from politicians and the
public. The case is also not yet over as one of those convicted, Petrus
Smith, who faces a five-year jail term for his part in the police dog attack
on illegal immigrants, is to seek leave to appeal. He, along with Lodewyk
Koch, Robert Henzen and Eugene Truter, who pleaded guilty to charges of
assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm for setting police dogs on
three illegal immigrants from Mozambique in a 1998 "training exercise".
Henzen and Truter were also found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of
justice. Judge Willem van der Merwe suspended some of the time in jail,
effectively leaving Smith with five years behind bars and the others with
four years in jail. The Mozambican government, backed by a local trust which
looks after the interests of immigrants in SA, plans to sue Safety and
Security Minister Steve Tshwete and the policemen for damages. Smith's
cousin, Natasha Bart, said the sentence came as "no surprise", but said the
judge did not take into account the mitigating factors put before the court.
In passing sentence at the Pretoria High Court yesterday, the judge said the
crimes had been "cowardly and brutal and went on over a long period of
time." The presidency said yesterday that it was satisfied justice had run
its course. It said it was committed to doubling its efforts to build a
non-racial democracy underpinned by the rule of law. Pan Africanist Congress
general secretary Thami-ka-Plaatjie was outraged, saying the sentence was
"scandalous". "It shows the inability of the state and judiciary to uphold
democracy. It is a racist judgment which proves that racist elements in the
justice system need urgent review." Azanian Peoples' Organisation
information secretary Kedibone Molema said it was at least encouraging that
white policemen were sent to jail at all. "I hope the sentence is not
overturned with the appeal." United Democratic Movement leader Bantu
Holomisa said his party never challenged court decisions while the Inkatha
Freedom Party spokesman, Velaphi Ndlovu, said it was sad that the jail time
was "so short". "This must be a lesson to other police. I hope the victims
will get some or other compensation," he said. Tshwete said the police acted
swiftly once they heard of the crimes. "All six men were behind bars and
suspended from duty immediately when the crime came out." He said the dog
unit had since been overhauled. The four men along with two others, Nicolaas
Loubser and Dino Guitto, who pleaded not guilty were arrested a year ago
when the SABC screened a video of them inciting their dogs to bite three
Mozambicans, Gabriel Pedro Timane, Alexandre Pedro Timane and Sylvester
Cose.

Dog unit trail: 'Justice has been served' (Cape Argus, 29/11) - Police
management and political parties welcomed on Thursday the effective four and
five-year jail terms imposed on four men who set their police dogs on
illegal immigrants in a 1998 "training session". "Justice has been served
and has been seen to be served," national police commissioner Jackie Selebi
said in a statement in Pretoria. "We call on the community not to judge all
police officers by the actions of these few. By far the majority of our
members are dedicated to serving and protecting." The United Democratic
Movement said it would have liked to see a harsher punishment meted out, but
was satisfied that justice had been seen to be done. "The actions of these
men do not belong in a democratic country where human rights are one of the
guiding principles of our society," UDM safety and security spokeswoman
Annelize van Wyk said. Such actions nullified all attempts by the police to
establish itself as a credible institution. "Clearly the fact that these
types of actions still take place within the SA Police Service seven years
after the first democratic elections, indicates that the SAPS has not been
fully transformed," she said. "SAPS management must take note of this and
accept responsibility in addressing the current shortcomings through proper
training and efficient management to ensure this kind of behaviour does not
repeat itself."

The Democratic Alliance said the sentences should send a clear message to
South Africans about what was right and what was wrong. "Police brutality,
in whatever form, will not be tolerated," DA safety and security spokesman
Paul Swart said in a statement. "People like this give a bad name to the
tens of thousands of decent members of the SAPS who do a wonderful job under
difficult circumstances." Jacobus Petrus Smith, convicted on three counts of
assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm, was sentenced on
Thursday to seven years in jail by the Pretoria High Court. Of these, two
years were suspended for five years on the condition that he was not
convicted for another violent crime during this period. Lodewyk Christiaan
Koch, Robert Benjamin Henzen and Eugene Werner Truter each received a
six-year prison term on the assault charges, of which two years were
suspended on the same conditions. Henzen and Truter were each sentenced to
an additional year in jail on a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of
justice by making a false entry in a police register. This sentence is to
run concurrently with the other four years.

The four - along with Dino Guiotto and Nicolaas Kenneth Loubser - were
arrested a year ago, shortly before the SABC screened a video showing them
inciting their police dogs to bite three illegal Mozambican immigrants near
Benoni on January 3, 1998. The victims were Gabriel Pedro Timane, Alexandre
Pedro Timane and Sylvester Cose. The six were at the time members of the
police's North-East Rand dog unit. Smith, Koch, Henzen and Truter claimed
their actions were part of an exercise to teach Guiotto's dog to bite on
command. Such sessions were not uncommon, they said, and had been ongoing
for years. Guiotto and Loubser have denied guilt on all the charges against
them. Their trial is to proceed separately next year. Selebi said steps had
been taken after the screening of the video to improve command and control
over the country's 68 dog units, and to hasten transformation. A written
instruction was issued to prohibit the use of patrol dogs for crowd control,
and limiting their use in tackling suspects. The police's psychological
services has developed a selection process for patrol dog handlers, and an
inspectorate has been created to conduct surprise visits and competency
tests at all dog units, he said.

Home Affairs incurs heavy legal costs in 82 lawsuits (Sapa, 29/11) -
Eighty-two lawsuits against the Home Affairs Department has cost the South
African taxpayer R934255 for the period January 2000 to June 2001, according
to Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Replying to a parliamentary
question from New National Party MP Francois Beukman, he said the cases were
heard in the Cape, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria high courts. A general
in former Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko's army, Nkuza Karl-I-Bond, was
among those whose cases were settled out of court, because information
received by the National Intelligence Agency would not stand up in court.

Northern Province farmers reluctantly agree to apply for work permits
(African Eye News Service, Nelspruit, 28/11) - Three farmers' groups in the
Northern Province that initially refused to apply for work permits for their
illegal Zimbabwean workers, finally agreed to do so after meeting with home
affairs officials on Tuesday evening. The groups from the Weipe, Pondrift
and Njelele areas accepted application forms from home affairs
director-general Billy Masetlha, but not without reservation. Farmers are
now required to approach the labour department when they need new labourers
and wait 30 days while the department recruits South African workers on
their behalf. "But if the department can't find labour within those 30 days,
the farmers then have to start looking for workers themselves, which can
take another month," explained legal representative for the farmers' groups,
Hennie Erwee on Wednesday. "It's not good for crop farmers to be without
workers for such a long time," he added.

The farmers want parliament to pass legislation allowing them to employ
Zimbabweans without having to go through the lengthy processes at home
affairs. Other farmers in the area who did not have reservations about the
agreement met the November 23 deadline to submit applications for work
permits to a task team. The task team, comprising home affairs and labour
department members, will study all applications by December 1 after which
home affairs will begin issuing permits. Members of the Soutpansberg
District Agricultural Union submitted 2 440 applications. There are
approximately 11 000 Zimbabweans working on farms in the Soutpansberg region
following an agreement that farmers had with the apartheid government to
give "special" work permits to the foreigners. The South African government
is trying to encourage farmers to hire local labourers first, before using
Zimbabweans.

SAPS partly to blame for dog attack: court hears (Sapa, Pretoria, 26/11) -
The SA Police Service was partly to blame for the actions of four men
convicted of setting their police dogs on three illegal immigrants in a 1998
"training exercise", the Pretoria High Court heard on Monday. "A culture was
created within which such crimes were apparently committed with the
knowledge that the perpetrators would be pardoned. This was all done in the
name of training," defence counsel Peet Coetsee argued. He criticised the
police for not acknowledging that such "training sessions" were a common
practice, and for distancing itself from the four men. "Since the arrests,
every commanding officer has pretended to have never heard of this practice
and tried to ascribe it to individual racist conduct," he said. Prosecutor
John Welch, however, said it was unfair to contend that the police service
was rife with people who approved of, and were involved in, such violence.
"We in South Africa are too quick to use common practice as a convenient
excuse." Despite acknowledging they knew what they were doing was wrong, the
men never attempted to change the state of affairs, Welch said.

The four men - Jacobus Petrus Smith, Lodewyk Christiaan Koch, Robert
Benjamin Henzen and Eugene Werner Truter - were last week found guilty on
three charges each of aggravated assault. Henzen and ruter were also
convicted of attempting to defeat the ends of justice for signing a false
entry in a police register. The four accepted guilt on all the charges. In a
video recording of the events, the men and two colleagues are seen inciting
their dogs to bite three Mozambicans - Gabriel Pedro Timane, Alexandre Pedro
Timane and Sylvester Cose - near Benoni on January 3, 1998. The men have
argued this was an exercise aimed at teaching one of their dogs to bite on
command. Such sessions were not uncommon, they said, and have been going on
for years. Delivering his closing argument on Monday, Coetsee, for Smith,
asked that his client be sentenced to three years' house arrest. Barry Roux,
representing the other three accused, also contended that direct
imprisonment would not be an appropriate sentence. Welch, however, asked the
court to send the men to jail. Coetsee conceded that the brutality of the
assaults, the vulnerability of the victims and the abuse of power were all
aggravating factors. The damage done to the image of the police service
could also not be disregarded.

In mitigation, however, he argued that the victims did not suffer serious,
lasting injuries and were taken to a hospital by their assailants. "Apart
from the assaults, there was at least an intention by the accused to execute
their duties," Coetsee said. "The three men were after all rightfully
arrested and eventually deported." Smith had shown remorse, and the court
should take into account that he committed the crimes while suffering from
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Coetsee told the court. This had affected
his moral judgment. Coetsee asked Judge Willie van der Merwe to temper the
punishment with mercy, and not to impose a sentence to try to please "a
world which does not have all the facts". For the other three men, Roux also
asked for a sentence of correctional supervision, describing his clients as
"good, workable human material". Their actions were the result of years of
conditioning in the police service and repeated exposure to violence. "It is
like in the apartheid years when magistrates and prosecutors prosecuted
black people for not carrying passes. We did not know at the time that it
was wrong, but now we do," Roux argued. He added that his clients have shown
remorse, and asked the judge to impose a sentence that would satisfy
"civilised and informed" members of the community. The court heard the four
men had already been punished by the fact that they were suspended from the
police, lost their income, and have been reviled by their employer,
politicians and the general public for over a year. A sentence of direct
imprisonment would not serve any purpose, Coetsee and Roux argued. Welch
argued that retribution should play a part in considering sentence. The
disregard of the victims' human rights was worse than the pain and suffering
they were subjected to, he said. On the attackers' remorse, Welch said it
should be questioned whether this was really heartfelt or merely the result
of their arrests. He argued in aggravation of sentence that the victims were
subjected to nearly an hour of extreme trauma, even though they were
physically bitten for only a few minutes each. Imprisonment would be a
proper punishment, Welch concluded.

Sentence is to be passed on Thursday. The other two accused, Dino Guiotto
and Nicolaas Kenneth Loubser, have denied guilt on all the charges against
them. Their trial is to proceed separately next year. All six men were on
bail of R2000. They were all were members of the North-East Rand police dog
unit, and were arrested shortly before SABC TV broadcast the video of the
assaults in November last year.

Editors Forum condemns intimidation of journalists in Zimbabwe (Sapa,
Johannesburg, 26/11) - The SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) on Monday
condemned the latest round of intimidation in Zimbabwe aimed particularly at
independent journalists. After its council meeting in Johannesburg earlier
in the day, Sanef said in a statement that it particularly condemned the
Zimbabwean government's controlled media branding independent reporters as
"terrorists". President Robert Mugabe's government last week named a list of
Western and independent local correspondents of "assisting terrorists".
These included journalists from The Times of London, The Independent, The
Zimbabwe Independent, and South Africa's The Star. "The events in Zimbabwe
are clearly designed by the Zimbabwean government and the ruling Zanu-PF
party to adversely influence the outcome of the presidential elections
planned for early 2002. "At this point in time Sanef believes that the
harassment of the media in Zimbabwe makes it virtually impossible for the
media to adequately reflect for the Zimbabwean public and the world how the
aforesaid elections are to be conducted," it said. Sanef said its council
had decided to seek an urgent meeting with relevant South African
authorities to convey its extreme concern about the infringement of media
freedom in Zimbabwe. "In the meantime, Sanef repeats its previous appeals to
the Zimbabwean government and the Zanu-PF to respect media freedom,
particularly of the independent media, and to refrain from the physical and
mental intimidation of journalists working in Zimbabwe."

Dog handlers show real remorse says criminologist (Dispatch Online,
Pretoria, 24/11) - A criminologist testifying in the trial of four North
East Rand dog handlers on Thursday conceded that the use of illegal
immigrants as bait to train dogs would probably have continued had it not
been for the video footage being shown on international television.
Criminologist Dr Irma Labuschagne said that three of the accused, Inspector
Lodewyk Christiaan Koch, 32, Sergeant Robert Benjamin Henzen, 32, and
Sergeant Eugene Werner Truter, 28, were unlikely to have shown remorse or to
have developed insight into how wrong their actions were if it had not been
for the video. Koch, Henzen, Truter and Sergeant Jacobus Peter Smith, 30,
pleaded guilty on Monday and were convicted on charges of assault with the
intent to do grievous bodily harm. Henzen and Truter were in addition
convicted on a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by making
a false entry into the dog register in which they claimed the dogs were used
on the illegal immigrants when they tried to flee. Labuschagne testified
that the three accused now realised they had acted wrongfully and showed
real remorse. Each of them had expressed the wish to face their victims and
ask their forgiveness and they had all offered to make some kind of
financial contribution towards their victims. She made it clear that the
three accused were part of a sub-culture of violence within the police. They
had not instigated the training method to use illegal immigrants as bait for
the dogs, but had as young policemen joined a force where the practice was
already in existence. The three were not inherently evil men against whom
society should be protected. They were basically good men who had "stood up
out of the mud" and were now all gainfully employed. It would serve no
positive purpose to send them to jail directly, she said. "They showed real
remorse and say that they would do anything to make good.. They know that
they will never truly be able to make restitution, but have a real desire to
try to make up for what they did in any manner -- it is indicative of real
remorse," she said.

Labuschagne said although she could not excuse what the three did, she felt
they had changed since their arrest. She recommended that the three should
be sentenced to severe punishment "within the community" and that they
should pay their victims some form of compensation. Judge Willie van der
Merwe remarked yesterday that evidence about the use of illegal immigrants
as live targets for dog training as "a general practice" was "alarming". "It
means that you cannot shoot a man, not even in his small toe, but you can
put your dog on him," he said. A social worker of the Department of
Correctional Services, Anna Stander, was also of the opinion that Koch,
Henzen and Truter were sorry about what they did. She said that correctional
supervision, which amounted to house arrest and practical community service,
was a very real punishment, which would serve as adequate retribution for
the three accused. Stander said the accused had already been punished to
some extent by losing their salaries and experiencing the negative publicity
and stress attached to their arrest.

The head of the dog training school in Roodeplaat, outside Pretoria,
Johannes Slabbert, said he could not reconcile himself with what he saw on
the video. A dog should not used to bite a person who was already lying on
the ground, he added. He was of the opinion that a police dog that came out
of training ought to be able to do the job with the minimum adjustment.
There were other methods to train the dog to bite, he added. "A police
patrol dog should still be regarded as minimum violence, as a method to help
an officer to arrest a suspect," he said. About allegations that dogs were
"racist", Slabbert said police dogs were training to attack both white and
black persons. A trained police dog worked on orders and would attack any
person, white or black, he said. The trial will continue on Monday with
further evidence in mitigation and final argument before sentence can be
passed.

Racism alive in SA (The Nation, Nairobi, 24/11) - When President Frederick
de Klerk released black nationalist Nelson Mandela from 27 years of
incarceration, Robert Benjamin Henzen, Lodewyk Christian Koch and Eugene
Werner Truter were in their early teens - the age at which human beings
solidify most of their social prejudices. During the 10 years that have
elapsed since then, landmark events have taken place in South Africa. Power
has reverted from the hands of a miserable white minority to the hands of a
democratic majority of all races. The remarkable thing about this transfer
of power has been its relative painlessness. In other situations, the many
decades of white oppression might have goaded the black majority to
retaliate against the authors of apartheid, including by barring all white
people from the state instruments which the Broederbond used to persecute
them. That is why it was possible for the white boys Henzen, Koch and
Truter - now in their early twenties - to join the police force. The most
important contributory factor to this relative tolerance was the Truth
Commission appointed by the new majority government to facilitate racial
reconciliation.

It must be said that this initiative - for which the solidly humane and
dignified Nelson Mandela must take the credit - is what has enabled that
country to emerge from darkness to light so rapidly, giving racial prejudice
a definite knock. But, clearly, white racism remains embedded. Clearly,
those who brought up Henzen, Koch, Truter and their ilk have never learnt
anything both from the folly of apartheid and from the bid by the formerly
oppressed majority to offer magnanimity to the formerly oppressive minority
in the interest of racial harmony. Nobody seems to have taught those boys
that black lives have any value or that black human beings should be treated
with any form of respect. The black slave trade, colonial oppression and
apartheid, among the many historic tragedies of this teaching, have never
taught these families anything. Our idea of "superiority" is nobility of
thought and conduct. It is moral, not racial, and a person who hurls abuse
and unleashes ferocious dogs onto harmless, defenceless and innocent
individuals on the basis of their race only reveals his moral depravity and
intellectual abyss as a result of extremely poor upbringing. The law will
definitely take its course against these juveniles for their vile behaviour
against people who were even guests from another country. But legal
punishment cannot suffice. What it strongly suggests is that South Africa
must intensify its campaign a hundredfold to educate all its citizens
against such atavism.

On the edge of a moral precipice (Weekly Mail & Guardian, 23/11) - How
things have changed since the adoption of our liberal Constitution. The
South African police used to use local natives as live targets for shooting
practice and dog exercise. Now, it seems, the cop on the beat has to
restrict himself to letting rip on foreign natives only. One of six cops who
have just been convicted for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm
explained to the court the dilemma of the new South African policeman.
Responding to a complaint by the chief instructor of the North East Rand Dog
Unit that a newly recruited dog called Jerry Lee was "presenting problems
about biting in practical attack situations", Sergeant Jacobus Smith took it
upon himself to look out for suitable opportunities to show the reluctant
newcomer how seasoned professionals get things done. Spotting three men, who
later turned out to be illegal Mozambican immigrants, at a Benoni taxi rank,
Smith radioed some colleagues to bring Jerry Lee along to a piece of open
ground near a disused mine shaft in the vicinity for a bit of live practice.
There, Jerry Lee was encouraged to join in while more "experienced" dogs
sank their fangs into the terrified and bleeding Mozambicans. This sort of
informal training session probably happens quite frequently. The difference
this time was that one of the cops had brought along a video camera,
presumably so that they could all relive the happy moment over beers and a
braai in a family situation later on. This was the video that somehow found
its way on to a series of local and international television channels -
exposure which ultimately caused the whistle to be blown on a group of loyal
men who until then believed that they had merely discovered an appropriate
way of carrying out their duties under a confusing new dispensation. A
handful of rogue cops have now been punished for a crime they were not aware
they were committing. But the police force has other problems. Simply trying
to police the country, it turns out, is a nightmare in a class of its own.

South Africa has the highest per capita murder rate in the world, but,
according to Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete, we're stuck with
it, and that's that. At an average of 21 000 body bag candidates per annum,
South Africa's murder statistics have long since gone through the roof - in
fact they are currently hovering somewhere high above the stratosphere.
Compare these figures with the mere 600 people killed over the last year in
open warfare between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, and you
start wondering why the rest of the world thinks it has something to get
hysterical about. South Africans could teach the rest of the world a few
lessons. South Africans don't get hysterical in the face of hysterical
murder statistics. South Africans have got an explanation for everything,
which allows that dwindling band made up of those of us who have not yet
been murdered to shrug it all off and get on with the business of living. Or
at least dying of something else. Thus it is that Tshwete, the Cabinet
minister responsible for ensuring our safety and security, is able to tell
us that we should just forget about seeing any more gains in the state of
our safety and security where the crime of murder is concerned. The police,
he informs us, have done a sterling job in the past few years, what with
swapping their old camouflage attire, shotguns and hippo-tail sjamboks for a
softer, funkier, shirt-sleeves-and-baseball- caps look, and generally
becoming more community friendly. Crime, including murder, has been brought
down significantly. The trouble is that crime, especially murder, has
reached a level where it cannot be brought down any further. This is not the
fault of the police. It is the fault of South Africans themselves. At a
certain level, the good minister has realised, South Africans are
"unpoliceable".

We seem to have come a long way since we collectively answered Oliver
Tambo's call to be merely ungovernable. Public ungovernability, you will
recall, helped us to bring down apartheid. Being unpoliceable is a different
matter. By the logic of the minister's argument, if we contented ourselves
with being unpoliceable in public, the cops might stand a chance. But the
problem with South Africans is that we insist on being unpoliceable in the
privacy of our own homes, or in the homes and business premises of friends,
family and close associates. Most South African murders are carried out "at
a family level and between people who know each other", says Tshwete. Under
these circumstances, the police apparently feel they do not have the right
to come and interrupt the sound of serious domestic gunfire, or the screams
of men, women and children being stabbed or bludgeoned to death. "We cannot
police this," he announces. "There is nothing more that we can do." To his
credit, the minister adds that this disastrous state of affairs might become
more manageable if South Africans were prepared to change their values and
morals. But by the looks of things, this is not a scenario that is on the
immediate horizon. It would seem as if the moral dilemmas posed by the
reluctant responsibilities of freedom affect both police and policed alike.
While the government dithers about whether or not to take away the average
South African's right to carry a gun, the average citizen feels free to use
this unspeakable weapon to settle personal and domestic scores, no matter
how petty. The police themselves, no longer sure what is right and what is
wrong, turn their own guns on themselves or on each other, and in the
meantime try to amuse themselves with bushveld foxhunts that use live
makwerekweres as bait. South Africa impressed the world by seemingly walking
away from the precipice of racial conflagration. What the world does not see
is the equally dangerous precipice of moral disintegration - a precipice
over which, by the looks of things, we have already fallen.

Crime justified setting dogs on illegal migrants (Business Day,
Johannesburg, 23/11) - The Pretoria High Court heard yesterday that setting
police dogs on illegal immigrants for practice was justifiable in the light
of rampant crime in SA. A former dog handler Hannes Brits said at the trial
of four former colleagues: "We all knew that what we were doing was wrong
but we saw it as justified in the context of crime. It was a method used for
a greater cause." The four men, Jacobus Petrus Smith, Lodewyk Christiaan
Koch, Robert Benjamin Henzen and Eugene Werner Truter were found guilty of
assault after setting dogs on three Mozambicans in 1998. The other two
accused, Nicolaas Kenneth Loubser and Dino Guiotto, have pleaded not guilty
on all charges. Their trial will proceed separately in June next year. SA
Human Rights Commission member Jody Kollapen said yesterday he was shocked
to learn such practices were still in place as late as last year. The six
men are out on bail of R2000 each.

Convicted dog policemen were "victims of a system", court told (Sapa,
Pretoria, 22/11) - Four men convicted of setting their police dogs on
illegal immigrants in a 1998 "training exercise" were not monsters but
rather victims of an imperfect system, the Pretoria High Court heard on
Thursday. Testifying for three of the men, criminologist Irma Labuschagne
said they have shed many tears since their arrest. "They are not hard people
now," she told the court. "They were shocked when they first saw the video
(portraying their deeds). They cannot believe that it was really them."
Jacobus Petrus Smith, Lodewyk Christiaan Koch, Robert Benjamin Henzen and
Eugene Werner Truter were found guilty on Monday of assaulting Mozambicans
Gabriel Pedro Timane, Alexandre Pedro Timane and Sylvester Cose on January
3, 1998.

Testifying in mitigation of sentence for Koch, Henzen and Truter,
Labuschagne said they were victims of a police system in which a subculture
of violence could still be found. In this system, they lost their
individuality in a group "which then became a monster in total discontrol".
Their training desensitised them to violence to a large extent and they were
under immense pressure to perform. "They only now came to realise that they
actually used live people," Labuschagne said. She told the court there was
no need for the men to be rehabilitated, and they did not pose any danger to
society. For Smith, traumatologist Peter Jones testified the behaviour
displayed in the video was typical of someone suffering from Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD). He diagnosed Smith as suffering from this disorder,
as well as depression and burn-out. This was the result of repeated exposure
to trauma during his career, and resulted in a blurring of morality. It also
affected his blameworthiness. "It is highly questionable whether he should
have been allowed to operate in the dog unit at all," Jones testified.

In the morning, the court heard that setting police dogs on illegal
immigrants for "practice", was regarded as justified in the light of rampant
crime in the country. "We all knew that what we were doing was wrong,"
former dog handler Hannes Brits testified in mitigation of sentence. "But we
saw it as justified in the context of crime. It was a method used for a
greater cause." Brits, a former colleague of the four men, told the court he
was ashamed to admit that using criminal suspects as "targets" was regarded
as acceptable. "It was the only way we knew to achieve our goal," he said.
The goal was to teach one's dog to bite. Brits said the method was not
unusual, and every dog handler in the country knew about it. The practice
had been going on for years. Asked by Judge Willem van der Merwe on Thursday
why handlers did not instead avail themselves as the targets in such
training sessions, he responded: "We were all too scared." He acceded that
the practice robbed people of their humanity, and that it was cowardly to
brutally attack people unable to defend themselves. "We knew that eventually
somebody will be caught out," Brits testified. "The bomb burst with the
broadcast of that video." He said he assumed that the practice would have
come to an end after the footage was disclosed last year. Smith, Koch,
Henzen and Truter were found guilty on three charges each of assault with
the intent to do serious bodily harm. Henzen and Truter were also convicted
of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by signing a false entry in a
police register. The four men accepted guilt on all the charges. Along with
two others, they were arrested in November last year shortly before SABC TV
broadcast video footage of the attack. The other two accused in the case,
Nicolaas Kenneth Loubser and Dino Guiotto, have pleaded not guilty on all
the charges against them. Their trial will proceed separately in June next
year.

Another former dog handler, Johannes Rudolph Niemand, on Thursday confirmed
that setting police dogs on crime suspects was not uncommon. He learnt of
the practice with his first dog handling course in 1989, and had himself
been involved in such incidents, Niemand told the court. SA Human Rights
Commission member Jody Kollapen, who attended Thursday's proceedings, said
he was shocked to learn that such practices were still in place as late as
last year. "It is alarming that criminals are regarded as fair game as part
of this training regime," he said. "It appears as if these police members
were insulated from human rights developments in broader society." While one
accepted that the police worked under difficult circumstances, this could
never serve as a justification for operating outside the law. "It is sad to
see that the vision of the Constitution and the reality in South Africa are
still so far from each other." Kollapen said the SAHRC would make
recommendations in this regard to the police and the Independent Complaints
Directorate at the conclusion of the trial. The six men are out on bail of
R2000 each. They were suspended without pay after their arrest, and
subsequently resigned from the police. The trial continues on Friday.

Police commander testifies in dog trial (Business Day, Johannesburg,
22/11) - The case against four members of the Northeast Rand dog unit found
guilty of assaulting three Mozambicans is turning into a contest between the
unit's commander and his subordinates. Unit commander Bertus van Zyl
appeared for the state yesterday in the Pretoria High Court where four of
six of his former subordinates are pleading in mitigation in a case that has
captured domestic and international attention. The assault using dogs on
three illegal immigrants embarrassed the top brass of the police when the
"training" video was flighted on prime time television last November. Four
policemen from the dog unit were convicted on Monday after pleading guilty
to three counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. The
Mozambican government is holding a watching brief in court. The Mozambican
representative said the plan was to start a civil action once the criminal
case had been completed. Two of the six policemen have pleaded not guilty to
the charges. Their case starts early next year.

The incident was widely condemned, but it focused attention on the inhuman
treatment of illegal immigrants, both by the authorities and ordinary
citizens. A showing of the video in court yesterday proved almost too much
for the three immigrants who were savaged by the dogs, Silvestre Cossa, and
brothers Alexandre and Gabriel Timane. They bowed their heads, overwhelmed,
and covered their eyes with their hands. The Mozambican government's
representative, Jose Nascimento, expressed concern yesterday at the "wave of
xenophobia" sweeping SA. "It is unacceptable, especially if you consider the
historical ties between SA and (the Mozambican ruling party) Frelimo,"
Nascimento said. Van Zyl testified that the policemen's training methods
diverged from what was regarded as standard practice. He said that the usual
method was to have training of police training dogs under the auspices of an
instructor and a protective padded suit was used. The lawyer for the first
accused, Jacobus Smith, put it to Van Zyl under cross-examination that his
client had been taking medication for depression and stress after his mother
had been killed in a robbery. Smith said evidence would be led that it was
normal practice to set inexperienced police dogs on detainees and prisoners
when training them. The four policemen who have pleaded guilty are Smith,
Lodewyk Koch, Robert Henzen and Eugene Truter.

SA, Botswana to discuss border security (Sapa, Pretoria, 21/11) - South
Africa and Botswana are to discuss issues such as crime and border patrols
at the second session of their joint permanent committee of defence and
security that began in Centurion, outside Pretoria on Wednesday. Opening the
session, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said the talks would take place
within the context of regional security. "Our common borders necessitate
ever-closer working relations," he said. "Border liaison, general crime,
border patrols, immigration matters, and customs and excise are some of the
issues that will be discussed." Two Botswana Cabinet members are attending
the session - Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration
Thebe Mogami and Minister of Mineral, Energy and Water Affairs Boometswe
Mokgothu. The inaugural meeting of the committee was held in November last
year. Lekota said this week's two-day session would largely focus on
progress made so far to enhance co-operation in the areas of defence and
public and state security. "Stable and secure countries ensure a strong
region. Strong regions ensure a stable and strong continent," the minister
said.

Cop dogs trained on crime suspects, court hears (Sapa, Pretoria, 21/11) - It
was not unusual for police dogs that were reluctant to bite to be set on
suspected criminals in practice sessions, the Pretoria High Court heard on
Wednesday. "There is not a dog handler in South Africa who was not either
personally involved in such an incident, an eyewitness, or at least knew
about the practice," former handler Hannes Brits testified. "It has been
going on for years." Brits was giving evidence in the trial of four men
convicted of setting their police dogs on three illegal Mozambican
immigrants in a 1998 "training exercise". Illegal aliens were usually the
targets in such practice sessions, "as they are unlikely to complain to the
authorities", he said. Brits also testified that "targets" were readily
available in the late 1970s and early 1980s among black people found on the
streets without their pass books.

The court heard that some police dogs were reluctant to bite in attack
situations as their training differed greatly from circumstances in real
life. There were, however, several ways to teach dogs to bite. One such
method included chasing a suspect with your dog on a leash, and then
inciting him to attack while still holding on, Brits said. This method was
usually practised on suspects "that you can see beforehand will not be able
to run away", mostly people under the influence of alcohol, he told the
court. It was also not done in public, as people might question why a dog
was set on someone if the policeman was able to catch up with the suspect
himself. If all else failed, Brits said, one would catch a suspect, take him
to a remote spot, and call some colleagues to join you for a practice
session. One would then let loose the reluctant dog to see if it bites. If
not, more experienced dogs would be set on the suspect to teach the other
animal how it was done. Should it then eventually attack, the dog was likely
to "come right", Brits said. "This is known as tasting blood." Explaining
the importance of a dog being able to attack, he said he and his former
colleagues daily came face to face with hardened criminals who killed police
members "for the joke". "To confront them with a dog that does not attack is
like sending the Americans into Afghanistan without any firearms," Brits
said.

The court on Wednesday started to hear evidence in mitigation and
aggravation of sentence for Jacobus Petrus Smith, Lodewyk Christiaan Koch,
Robert Benjamin Henzen and Eugene Werner Truter. They were on Monday found
guilty on three charges each of assault with the intent to do serious bodily
harm. Henzen and Truter were also convicted of attempting to defeat the ends
of justice by signing a false entry in a police register. The four men
accepted guilt on all the charges. Testifying for the State, Superintendent
Egbertus van Zyl said such practices were not allowed, and denied having
been aware that they existed. He was the four men's commander at the
Northeast Rand dog unit at the time of the assaults. Had he been aware, Van
Zyl said, he would have launched an investigation and referred the matter to
the Independent Complaints Directorate. He was, however, accused of lying by
defence counsel. The court heard that Van Zyl had a quota system in terms of
which dog unit members under his command had to make a certain number of
arrests every month, and were questioned if their dogs were not used in
attacks often enough. Entries were made into a register, and instances where
dogs bit suspects were marked in red ink. "My information is that you looked
at the red entries at the end of every month, and if there were not enough,
you asked the member what was wrong with his dog," said Peet Coetsee,
counsel for Smith. Van Zyl conceded he may have said this. He stressed,
however, that the performance of a dog was measured against the successes he
had, not the number of times he actually bit someone.
Dog unit members were awarded points in terms of the quota system, with the
highest score given for a dog biting somebody suspected of a serious crime,
the court heard. Brits told the court he initially did not want to testify
for fear of incriminating himself, but decided to do so because of sympathy
for the four convicted men. "We never did anything but maintain law and
order," he said. "I don't like to see them sitting there as if they are the
only ones who ever did this. I wanted to put in perspective that this was a
system." In the morning, gasps of disbelief were heard in the courtroom when
video footage was shown of the men assaulting and setting their dogs on the
three Mozambicans - Gabriel Pedro Timane, Alexandre Pedro Timane and
Sylvester Cose. The other two accused in the case, Nicolaas Kenneth Loubser
and Dino Guiotto, on Monday pleaded not guilty on all the charges against
them. Their trial is to proceed separately in June next year. The six men
are out on bail of R2000 each. They were suspended without pay after their
arrest in November last year shortly before SABC TV broadcast video footage
of the attack. Some of them subsequently resigned from the police. The trial
continues on Thursday.

Another Home Affairs official arrested (Sapa, Pretoria, 21/11) - Another
Home Affairs Department official has been arrested for aiding and abetting
illegal immigrants, the department announced on Wednesday. Sibusiso Msiza, a
senior administration clerk at the department's Pretoria district office,
was arrested on Tuesday and appeared in court on charges related to the
issuing of false passports to foreigners, it said in a statement. Msiza was
freed on R1500 bail by the Pretoria Magistrate's Court, and is to appear
again on December 4. The department said it had started disciplinary
proceedings against him. Th latest arrest was part of Project Molopo, a
joint effort by the department and the police to root out corruption among
home affairs staff.

Home Affairs employee walks into police trap (Mail & Guardian, 20/11) - A
33-year-old home affairs department official appeared in the Louis Trichardt
Magistrate's Court on Thursday after she allegedly accepted a bribe from an
illegal immigrant, Northern Province police reported. Captain Ailwei
Mushavhanamadi said Rebecca Monisi was granted R1000 bail and the case was
postponed until December 7. Monisi was arrested on Wednesday. "We set a trap
for her and she walked right into it. We arrested her when she accepted R2
000 from a Mozambican who wanted to become a South African citizen,"
Mushavhanamadi said.

NNP welcomes dog unit cops conviction (Sapa, Pretoria, 20/11) - The New
National Party welcomed on Tuesday the conviction of four former policemen
who set their dogs on three illegal immigrants in a 1998 "training
exercise". "This sends out a strong message that xenophobia and racism will
not be tolerated in our country," NNP spokesman Andre Gaum said in a
statement. "It proves that those who do not want to respect the humanity and
dignity of others will have to pay dearly." Jacobus Petrus Smith, Lodewyk
Christiaan Koch, Robert Benjamin Henzen and Eugene Werner Truter each
pleaded guilty to three counts of assault with the intent to do grievous
bodily harm in the Pretoria High Court on Monday and were convicted as such.
Henzen and Truter were furthermore found guilty on a charge of attempting to
defeat the ends of justice for signing a false entry in a police register -
a charge on which they also accepted guilt. Their two co-accused, Nicolaas
Kenneth Loubser and Dino Guiotto, denied guilt on all the charges. The
matter against Loubser and Guiotto is to proceed in two separate trials.
Gaum said there was no place for brutality in a police force that should
protect all citizens. "People want to trust the police and not fear them."

Farmers seek work permits for thousands of Zimbabweans (African Eye News
Service, Nelspruit, 20/11) - Northern Province farmers have submitted
applications for more than 4 000 Zimbabwean labourers to be granted work
permits. The workers have long avoided deportation because of an apartheid
agreement that allowed farmers in the Soutpansberg region, which borders
Zimbabwe, to hand out "special" work permits. Farm workers' rights activists
eventually complained in 1998 that the influx of foreigners was
uncontrollable and that farmers used them because they were not unionised
and not protected against abuse. Farmers now have until Thursday to apply
for legitimate work permits, which will be processed by the department of
home affairs by December 1. This follows an agreement between farmers, home
affairs and the labour department last week. Soutpansberg District
Agricultural Union chairman Gideon Meiring said on Tuesday that farmers were
pleased with the process so far. "We're definitely satisfied that everything
is going well with the applications and that we can still use the people
(Zimbabwean farm workers) for the time being," Meiring said. A task team
comprising all stakeholders will study the applications and make
recommendations to home affairs on which ones should be approved or not.
Northern Province labour spokesman Joe Mayila warned that foreign workers
who did not have the necessary documents after December 1 would be
considered illegal. "The law will take its course," Mayila said. Future
employment of foreign labourers will have to go through the normal channels
at home affairs. Home affairs initially gave farmers deadlines to phase out
about 11 000 unskilled labourers by April 15 this year and skilled one by
October 15. Farmers complained that there would be a severe staff shortage,
however, and threatened to take legal action until this new agreement was
reached.

Four dog cops guilty of assaulting Mozambicans (Sapa, Pretoria, 19/11) -
Four men were found guilty on several charges in the Pretoria High Courton
Monday after admitting to setting their police dogs on illegal immigrants in
a 1998 "training exercise" along with two other colleagues. Jacobus Petrus
Smith, Lodewyk Christiaan Koch, Robert Benjamin Henzen and Eugene Werner
Truter were each convicted on three counts of assault with the intent to do
grievous bodily harm. Henzen and Truter were furthermore found guilty on a
charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by signing a false entry
in a police register.

The State withdrew a corruption charge against the four men, as well as the
charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice against Smith and Koch.
The other two accused, Nicolaas Kenneth Loubser and Dino Guiotto, denied
guilt on all five charges. The judge ruled that the matter proceed in two
separate trials - one for the four convicted men, and another for Loubser
and Guiotto. The trial of Smith, Koch, Henzen and Truter was postponed to
Wednesday for evidence in mitigation of sentence. Their bail of R2000 each
was extended. A trial date of June 3 to 7 next year was set down for Loubser
and Guiotto. Their bail of R2000 each was also extended. The six were all
members of the Northeast Rand police dog unit. They were suspended without
pay after their arrest in November last year. Some of them subsequently
resigned from the police. They were taken into custody shortly after SABC TV
screened video footage showing dogs being incited by policemen to attack
three Mozambicans -Gabriel Pedro Timane, Alexandre Pedro Timane and
Sylvester Cose - on the morning of January 3, 1998. The four who accepted
guilt said in their pleas read to court that the event was an exercise aimed
at teaching inexperienced police dogs to attack on their handlers'
instruction. Smith said he was told by his chief instructor that Guiotto's
dog was reluctant to bite people in an attack situation. The instructor
suggested he should seek an opportunity to rectify the dog's behaviour. The
instructor cited the arrest of illegal immigrants or other suspected
criminals as an example of such an opportunity. Smith said he did not regard
this instruction as unusual.
On the day of the attacks, Smith and Koch spotted three suspicious-looking
people at a taxi rank near Benoni. They arrested the men and found that they
were illegal aliens. Koch informed the five other accused, who then joined
Smith and Koch with their dogs at an open veld in Brakpan. Onlookers
arrived, and the exercise was moved to another spot near Benoni. All four
men admitted to inciting more experienced dogs to bite the immigrants in
order to show Guiotto's dog how this should be done. In his plea, Smith
admitted to inciting his dog, Rex, to bite the three men, and to assaulting
them. He said he had acted out of "bravado" and a "rush of emotion". Koch,
for his part, said he had not hit anyone but had encouraged his dog,
Jakkals, to attack the three men. Henzen confessed to hitting Alexandre
Timane with his elbow and to inciting his dog to attack Gabriel Timane. He
furthermore acknowledged he had signed a false entry in the dog unit
register which stated the attacks were the result of the three men resisting
arrest. Truter in his plea admitted to encouraging his dog Dingo to bite
Gabriel Timane, and acknowledged that he too had signed the false register
entry. Koch, Henzen and Truter all admitted to deliberately neglecting to
intervene to stop the attacks. The three complainants were present at the
court on Monday.

Police dog attack: four found guilty (Iafrica.com, Pretoria, 19/11) - Four
of the six men charged with setting their police dogs on illegal immigrants
in a 1998 "training exercise" were found guilty on several charges in the
Pretoria High Court earlier today. This came after Jacobus Petrus Smith,
Lodewyk Christiaan Koch, Robert Benjamin Henzen, Eugene Werner Truter
earlier each pleaded guilty on three charges of assault with the intent to
do grievous bodily harm. Henzen and Truter furthermore pleaded guilty on a
charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice. This charge related to a
false entry into the dog unit register. The four men were not asked to plead
on a charge of corruption. The other two accused, Nicolaas Kenneth Loubser
and Dino Guiotto, denied guilt on all five charges. The six men were all
members of the Northeast Rand police dog unit. They were suspended without
pay after they were arrested in November last year. Some of them
subsequently resigned from the police. The men were taken into custody
shortly after SABC TV screened video footage showing dogs being incited by
policemen to attack three Mozambicans - Gabriel Pedro Timane, Alexandre
Pedro Timane and Sylvester Cose - on the morning of January 3, 1998. The
four who accepted guilt said in their pleas read to those present in the
courtroom that the 1998 event was an exercise aimed at teaching
inexperienced police dogs to attack on instruction. Smith said he was told
by his chief instructor that Guiotto's dog was reluctant to bite people in
an attack situation. The instructor suggested he find a way of rectifying
the dog's behaviour. He cited the arrest of illegal immigrants as an example
of such an opportunity. Smith said he did not regard this instruction as
unusual. On the day of the alleged attacks, Smith and Koch spotted three
suspicious looking people at a taxi rank near Benoni. They arrested the men
and found that they were illegal aliens. Koch informed five others accused
of this, who then joined Smith and Koch with their dogs in a field in
Brakpan. Onlookers arrived, and the exercise was moved to another spot near
Benoni. All four men admitted to inciting more experienced dogs to bite the
aliens in order to show Guiotto's dog how this should be done. Henzen and
Truter, in their pleas, said it was important to teach police dogs to bite
so that they could be used in crime prevention operations and would be able
to protect their handlers in dangerous situations. Prosecutor John Welch
asked the court to deliver judgment according to the guilty pleas. Judge
Willie van der Merwe acceded after considering the matter during an
adjournment.

'We were training the dogs to bite humans' (Mail & Guardian, Pretoria,
18/11) - Four of six white South African policemen were convicted on Monday
for setting their dogs on three suspected illegal immigrants from
Mozambique, saying it was done to train their dogs to bite humans. The six
men were arrested in November last year after sickening video footage of the
attack was shown on television in South Africa -- horrifying the nation --
and around the world. Jacobus Smith, Lodewyk Koch, Robert Henzen and Eugene
Truter were convicted on three charges of assault Monday in the Pretoria
High Court. The two other accused, Nicolaas Loubser and Dino Guitto, pleaded
not guilty to all charges and will be tried separately. Henzen and Truter
were also found guilty on one charge each of defeating the ends of justice
by signing a false entry regarding the incident in a police register. The
four found guilty admitted in their plea explanations to "knowingly and
intentionally" assaulting the three men and urging their dogs to maul the
victims. Smith said he had acted out of "bravado" and a "rush of emotion".
The accused said they were trying to train younger, inexperienced police
dogs -- particularly one that had been reluctant to bite people -- to attack
on instruction, although Smith claimed in an earlier affidavit that the dogs
were old and their teeth blunt. On the day of the attacks -- January 3,
1998 -- Smith and Koch arrested the three men and found they were illegal
aliens, who enjoy few rights in South Africa. The other four accused then
joined Smith and Koch in a field about 20 kilometres of Johannesburg. There,
they turned their dogs on the three men -- later identified as Gabriel Pedro
Timane, Alexandre Pedro Timane, and Sylvester Cose from Mozambique, who the
video footage showed screaming for help. The film showed the dogs attacking
the illegal immigrants for 40 minutes as the policemen urged them on. The
policemen also punched and slapped the three men, calling them "bastards"
and "kaffirs" -- a derogatory term for blacks. The six policemen were
charged with three counts of serious assault, one of corruption, and one of
attempting to defeat the ends of justice. The corruption charge relates to
the policemen allegedly promising to free the Mozambicans for a payment of
R300 ($36). The six policemen were suspended from the police dog unit in
Benoni, northeast of Johannesburg, following their arrest. Loubser, Guiotto
and Truter subsequently resigned from the force. The trial of Smith, Koch,
Henzen and Truter was adjourned to Wednesday for evidence in mitigation of
sentence. Their bail of R2 000 each was extended. Loubser and Guiotto are to
appear before the judge again for their trial date to be determined. Their
bail was also extended. In an interview published in November last year, a
Swiss national who trains police dogs said the methods used by the officers
were similar to those used to train dogs to attack runaway slaves in the
United States in the 18th century.

Buthelezi defends Deputy DG, Ivan Lambinon (Sapa, Cape Town, 14/11) - Home
Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi has defended a public servant who
earlier this week was singled out and scolded by the ANC-dominated home
affairs committee for not being present during its "oversight visit" to head
office earlier this month. Ivan Lambinon, a deputy director-general, is
perceived to be part of the old-guard in a department hamstrung by the
public acrimony between Buthelezi and his director-general Billy Masetlha, a
former ANC intelligence agent. On Wednesday, Buthelezi said in a statement
that Masetlha had apologised to the committee on behalf of all senior
managers who were unable to be there, including Lambinon. In a letter to
Lambinon, dated November 12, committee chair Aubrey Mokoena (ANC) described
his absence during the committee's visit on November 6 and 7 as an "absolute
oddity", especially as he always attended committee meetings with
"missionary zeal, albeit uninvited". "I must record that your continued
attendance of portfolio committee meetings without an invitation from the
chairperson has caused some discomfort." Mokoena said if the situation
continued, "it will result in the oversight role being reversed". "That is,
you will be assuming the role of oversight over the portfolio committee,
instead of the other way round. The crux of the matter is that you are
accountable to us and not vice versa." Mokoena said Lambinon's presence at
"many portfolio committee meetings" might create problems in respect of
state expenditure, "who may want to know how your attendance of these
meetings are authorised and financed".

However, Buthelezi said it was normal practice for a DG or senior officers,
including Lambinon, to be present in Cape Town to help him. "It is
surprising that the chairperson... should now find it strange that Minister
Buthelezi would want one or more of his senior officials in Cape Town to
assist him in his task." Buthelezi said that without detracting from the
importance of the committee's work, it should be understood that
directors-general and senior officials were not in attendance in Cape Town
during parliamentary sessions exclusively to attend meetings of portfolio
committees. Lambinon would, after due consultation with Buthelezi, reply to
Mokoena's queries "within the established channels of communication as a
professional public servant of many years' standing", Buthelezi said
Buthelezi -- who has asked Mbeki to intervene in the dispute with
Masetlha -- last month presented the committee with 64 complaints about the
director-general, whom he accused of insubordination. Buthelezi claims
Masetlha blocked his attempt to move Lambinon from the government printing
works section to assist in the "crisis" in immigration.

Illegal Zimbabwean workers must be treated humanely: says Mbeki (Sapa,
Parliament, 13/11) - President Thabo Mbeki says the issue of illegal
Zimbabwean workers in the Northern Province should be treated as humanely as
possible, but without breaking the law. "We have a bit of a problem here; in
the process of dealing with the matter humanely, we can't say that home
affairs should break the law," he told the National Council of Provinces.
However, there was a need to handle the matter in a sensitive way and not to
add to the problems of Zimbabwe, or fan xenophobia among South Africans.
Noting that some of the workers may have been in the country for 15 years,
he said based on the approach of ubuntu the government had a few years back
allowed those who were illegal immigrants for more than five years to apply
for citizenship. "I don't know why others might have missed that particular
opportunity, but certainly I agree that we have to approach the matter with
all due sensitivity," Mbeki said. Meanwhile, the National Assembly's home
affairs committee has recommended to Parliament that a task team be set up
to find solutions to the farm labour crisis in the Soutpansberg region of
the Northern Province. In its report on illegal Zimbabwean workers in the
area, it said the team should comprise representatives of the departments of
labour and home affairs, organised agriculture and labour, the security
forces, local municipalities and the provincial government. The home affairs
committee would manage the entire process. MPs visited the area on November
5 to investigate possible solutions "to the problem of illegal Zimbabwean
labourers working on farms in the area", committee chairman Aubrey Mokoena
said in the report. Farmers in the area were under the impression there was
an implicit agreement between the government and the Soutpansberg District
Agricultural Union to allow Zimbabwean workers, in a controlled way, to work
on their farms. "The reason being that because of the demographics of the
population in the area, there are no South Africans to work on the farms."
The report says a moratorium was placed on the renewal and granting of
permits to Zimbabwean labourers in 1999, which signalled the start of
problems between the farmers and the government. "The assumption by the
department of labour that there are enough local people who would like to
work on the farms has never been tested and weighed in practice." Most
attempts by farmers to secure local labour was costly and unsuccessful, the
report said. The matter has yet to be formally considered by the National
Assembly.

1,822 child refugees in SA (Sapa, Parliament, 9/11) - A total of 1822
children applied for refugee status in South Africa between August 1994 and
August this year, according to Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
In written reply to a question in the National Assembly, he said the
children, all under the age of 18, came from Algeria, Armenia, Bangladesh,
Bosnia, Benin, Burundi, China, Comores, Croatia, and Eritrea. Others came
from Ghana, India, Iraq, Kenya, Korea, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania,
Russia, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Sudan, Turkey, and Zambia. Some of the
children were accompanying their parents, while unaccompanied children were
in the care of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Buthelezi
said. He did not specify how many of the children were granted asylum.

Hillbrow raid on migrants (The Star, 8/11) - An army-led raid at a notorious
hotel in Hillbrow nabbed several illegal immigrants and recovered drugs and
other stolen goods on Thursday. Hundreds of South African Police Service
members, immigration officials and South African National Defence Force
personnel swooped on the Mimosa International Hotel. They were acting on
information provided to them by the Crime Intelligence Unit. This was the
second raid on the hotel in two months. The first took place on August 23.
The operation started shortly after 2pm on Thursday when helicopters flew
low, dropping armed police officers on the roof of the hotel. Cordons were
thrown around the area, and everyone caught in the marked-out terrain was
subjected to a body search. Police Superintendent Chris Wilken said that
since Operation Thunderstorm was launched in central Johannesburg a week
ago, more than R5-million worth of stolen goods had been recovered. By
Thursday, police had arrested 718 suspects in 688 cases. In one of the
abandoned rooms, a soldier recovered 15 rocks of cocaine and two ID
documents. In another room, police found dagga lying around. Some of the
South African women labelled the raid as a police-inspired xenophobic attack
on Nigerians. But police dismissed the claim, saying their mission was to
fight crime. Meanwhile, police arrested two boys - aged 14 and 19 - for
attempted robbery in Mayfair on Thursday. They were caught at Enoch Sontonga
cemetery.

Meeting between Mbeki and Buthelezi fails to resolve dispute over DG (Sapa,
Cape Town, 8/11) - The Public Service Commission and the auditor-general's
apparent hesitancy to probe whether home affairs director-general Billy
Masetlha has a valid contract, has raised Democratic Alliance MP Raenette
Taljaard's ire. "This increased hesitancy... it looks like everyone is
waiting for the cue from the president," she told Sapa on Thursday. Taljaard
believes auditor-general Shauket Fakie is abdicating his mandate by not
investigating the matter immediately. However, Fakie disagrees. He says he
informed Taljaard that he had applied his mind and had come to the right
decision. Taljaard was free to disagree, but should also respect his
decision, Fakie told Sapa. Earlier this week, the Public Service Commission
(PSC) said it had suspended its inquiry into Masetlha's employment status at
the request of home affairs committee chairman Aubrey Mokoena, pending the
go-ahead from Parliament itself. PSC chairman Prof Stan Sangweni told Sapa
he had not launched a probe himself as he was aware the president was
addressing the matter. "I had no reason to interfere with that." President
Thabo Mbeki has held at least two inconclusive meetings with Buthelezi - the
most recent last week - in a bid to resolve the minister's dispute with
Masetlha. In terms of the Public Service Act, the president appoints
directors-general. Buthelezi - the IFP leader - has been at loggerheads with
Masetlha, a former ANC intelligence operative, for months, paralysing the
department. Buthelezi claims the lack of a contract lays the department open
to legal challenges and unauthorised expenditure.

DA leader Tony Leon told reporters in Parliament on Thursday that the way
the ANC was treating Buthelezi in Cabinet should be a warning signal to the
NNP, which has entered a "co-operative governance" agreement with the ruling
party at all levels of government. In a letter to Taljaard dated October 10,
Fakie said he had perused legal opinion from Buthelezi's counsel, and noted
one of them was of the view that Masetlha's contract had been extended and
was valid. "The dispute is the fact that the accounting officer has failed
to enter into a written contract, as required by section 36 (f) of the
Public Finance Management Act, as well as the relevant Public Service Act
and regulations." Fakie said he had been advised this was a compliance
matter that would be dealt with during the next audit cycle. He said he
would consider all relevant views, including the PSC's findings, for the
purpose of the audit at the conclusion of the 2001/02 financial year. An
angry Taljaard replied that all three legal opinions had in fact found
Masetlha's actions could be challenged due to the absence of a legally valid
contract. She said while the PSC had a role to play, the potential breach of
section 36(5) fell squarely in the independent mandate of the
auditor-general, as did the broader compliance issue. Taljaard said Fakie
could not merely wait in the wings and reflect on matters once the PSC had
looked into it. "The constitutional provisions relating to the mandate of
the office suggests a far more rigorous approach, and I would like to
request a full investigation of this matter," she wrote.

Nation stunned by cop brutality footage (Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg,
8/11) - Six South African policemen have been arrested after shocking video
footage of police dogs being set on suspected illegal immigrants was aired
on nationwide television, police Commissioner Jackie Selebi said. At least
six police officers, all of them attached to the Northeast Rand dog unit,
participated in the gruesome game, in which it seemed as if the police
officers involved enjoyed releasing their dogs on the three detainees. The
40-minute film was shot two years ago. None of the three men were wearing
protective clothing, and the footage showed them writhing on the ground in
pain as the policemen incited their dogs with shouts of "rim the kaffir",
holding the leashes as the animals mauled the men. The camera repeatedly
focused on bleeding wounds on the men's arms and legs. One of the officers
is seen slapping a suspect on the head as he screams in pain. Commissioner
Selebi said the six would be charged with attempted murder. He has appointed
a group of detectives to probe the incident. Selebi and Safety and Security
Minister Steve Tshwete told reporters they had been shocked at the racism
and brutality displayed in the footage. "I am horrified and outraged. This
blatant display of racism is likely to cause serious racial tension and
might dent our international image," Tshwete said. The South African police
force is still reeling from footage aired by the BBC in April last year in
which police officers from Johannesburg's flying squad were shown kicking
and beating two hijackers, one of them seriously injured, after their stolen
car had ploughed into a tree. The hijacker injured in that accident
subsequently died in hospital from brain injuries received in the crash. Two
policemen involved in the incident were fined. Selebi said that he was
"aware of the fact that pockets of racism do indeed exist [in the police],
but I am shocked to know that some members can act like this." "Although the
footage was apparently filmed in 1998, the fact that the police officials
concerned are still serving ... and possibly continuing with their barbaric
acts, is cause for deep concern," he said.

Parliamentary Committee defends Aliens Control Act (Sapa, Pretoria, 7/11) -
The Home Affairs Department was acting correctly in the way it dealt with
the issue of Zimbabweans employed on farms in the Limpopo Valley in the
Northern Province, parliamentary Home Affairs portfolio committee chairman
Aubrey Mokoena said on Wednesday. He and other committee members paid a
visit to the area on Monday. They spoke to farmers and other stakeholders to
hear their views, Mokoena told reporters in Pretoria. The department earlier
gave farmers until October 15 to send back their more than 10,000 Zimbabwean
workers, or else face prosecution. Three farmers' unions from the area
applied to the Pretoria High Court for an order to stall the eviction of the
foreigners pending the completion of negotiations with the department to
find a workable solution. In an out-of-court settlement the unions and the
department agreed that there would be no arrests and evictions until
discussions had taken place.

In a memorandum presented to the committee on Monday, the farmers said they
were South African patriots and did not intend to break the law. They were
committed to boosting the economy, creating jobs, poverty alleviation,
improvement of food security and wealth creation. They accepted illegal
Zimbabweans as employees, mostly on a seasonal basis, out of desperation
because they had a labour shortage. "The farmers complain that the local
people regard farm work as beneath their dignity," Mokoena said. He said the
committee was impressed with the forthrightness of the farmers and their
willingness to admit that they broke the law by employing illegal aliens.
"We were impressed by the fact that they have secured both local and
international contracts, thus ensuring the opening of markets and
facilitating the inflow of foreign currency into the country. "There is a
lot of goodwill from the farmers' side." But he added: "The department is
not acting out of bad faith." It acted correctly in applying the Aliens
Control Act, which forbids the employment of illegal immigrants. "The law is
the law and must be applied." In the long term, it could be amended, but as
it stood it should be maintained, Mokoena said. The department and the
farmers' representatives had agreed to form a small committee to deliberate
on how to take the matter further. The portfolio committee was of the
opinion that the small committee should include participation of all
stakeholders, including local government, as well as organised labour, civil
society and black farmers, he said. The committee was scheduled to meet next
week. "We'll give the meeting a chance," Mokoena said. It this succeeded, it
could be used as a model to solve similar problems in the Free State and
elsewhere, he said.

Minister cautions against Islamophobia (Sapa, Parliament, 7/11) - The last
few weeks had witnessed the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment and
intolerance in the developed world and even in South Africa, Foreign Affairs
Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Wednesday. Opening debate on the
World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance held in Durban from August 31 to September 7, she said
the increase in Islamophobia was fuelled by the work of "pseudo-specialists"
on the Middle East and Islam. Dlamini-Zuma said it could not be disputed
that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance was
on the rise, especially in the countries of the developed north. "No country
is immune from racism. The barbaric acts of terrorism in the United States
on 11 September are ample proof that intolerance, bigotry and fanaticism is
on the ascendancy." Equally appalling was the tendency in some developed
countries and even in South Africa "to vent anger at a particular group of
people because of their religion", Dlamini-Zuma said. "The last few weeks
have witnessed the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Arab feeling and related
intolerance in the developed countries. This form of aberration masquerades
itself as the work of specialists on the Middle East and on Islam. "The view
expressed by these pseudo-specialists reinforces the stereotyping of the
people of the Middle Eastern origin as inherently violent. "This we must
reject, just as the Durban conference instructed us to," Dlamini-Zuma said.

Nearly 1,200 Mozambicans nabbed in one month (African Eye News Service,
Nelspruit, 7/11) - Impoverished Mozambicans continue to flock to South
Africa for a better life even if it means putting their life in danger by
walking through the Kruger National Park. South African National Defence
Force (SANDF) statistics indicate that 1 193 illegal Mozambican immigrants
were arrested in South Africa last month. Of these, 85 were arrested in the
world famous park, while 1 108 were arrested on the border south of
Komatipoort in Mpumalanga province, said Group 33 spokeswoman in Nelspruit
Lize Pienaar on Wednesday. Pienaar said commando members in Belfast,
Groblersdal, Malelane and Nelspruit also arrested 173 illegal immigrants in
their jurisdiction. "Although the majority of undocumented migrants were
from Mozambique, a few citizens of Somalia and Pakistan were also arrested,"
she said. Joint army and police operations also recovered 10 stolen firearms
and six stolen vehicles on the border between South Africa and Mozambique.
Dagga weighing 10,9kg and 52 rounds of ammunition were also confiscated on
the border, Pienaar added. She said the operations resulted in the arrest of
25 suspects. Part-time army commandos throughout the province also had major
successes in stamping out crime by arresting 68 suspects, she said.
Volunteer commando members arrested the suspects in connection with stealing
21 vehicles and eight unlicensed weapons. The suspects are also accused of
poaching game worth R1 800, illegally possessing chrome and foreign currency
notes, as well 42,5kg of dagga and 12 rounds of ammunition.

Failure to deal with Home Affairs saga undermines democracy says IFP (Sapa,
Ulundi, 3/11) - The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said that the failure to
deal with tensions between Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi and
his director general Billy Masetlha undermined democracy and good
governance. In a statement to Sapa on Saturday after its National Council
meeting in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal, the IFP said that it was intolerable that
Buthelezi had been placed in a position to run the department while his
policies were being undermined by his director general. Relations between
Buthelezi - the IFP leader - and Masetlha, a former African National
Congress intelligence operative, have been strained for months and Buthelezi
has claimed - backed by legal opinion of senior counsel -that Masetlha had
not had a valid employment contract since June this year. Buthelezi had
presented a 10-page document citing 64 examples of alleged wrongdoing by
Masetlha to the home affairs committee. He accused Masetlha of
insubordination and defiance. "The National Council deplores that good
governance, democracy and accountability in government are being undermined
by the failure to deal appropriately and decisively with the reported
defiance, insubordination and contempt Masetlha has shown towards his
Minister and his duties of office, extensive of which have been tabled in
the National Assembly," the IFP said. It urged the Public Service Commission
which investigates the matter to operate with impartiality and without fear
and prejudice. "This will prove that not all institutions of government are
under the control of the same echelon of political interest and that the
constitution will not be undermined in this respect".

Graduates gain skills, then leave SA says Manuel (Sapa, Durban, 2/11) -
Government proposed to increase the number of students in higher education
by 20 percent over the medium to long term, but South Africa could no longer
afford to produce thousands of students for the international labour market,
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Friday. Manuel was speaking at a
University of Durban Westville University dinner to strengthen links with
major business in KwaZulu-Natal and to ensure financial support for the
institution which has produced a number of the country's political and
financial leaders. Manuel said thousands of skilled people left the country
each year, resulting in the import of scarce skills at high cost to the
economy and the country to fill the vacuum created by those leaving. "These
foreign skills are usually costly, and cannot always be relied upon to
understand the developmental and national context that the locals have
grasped and have first hand experience of," Manuel said. He said
unemployment in the country was unacceptably high and the divide between the
white rich nation and the poor black nation could not be allowed to
continue. "It is clear that we have the capacity for South Africa to at
least go some way in bridging the gap between rich and poor. The will of
business and industry is needed in this regard." Manuel said partnerships
between the private and public sectors could leverage resources to have a
greater impact on learning and productivity. He added that many large
companies in the country still did not have a corporate social
responsibility programme. South Africa was considered the engine of growth
for Africa and was one of the most important emerging markets, but apartheid
had left the country with a poor human resource base which needed to be
addressed if it wanted to be competitive in the global economy. Manuel said
a poor human resource base impacted heavily on the size of markets and
personnel recruitment. It indirectly led to greater uncertainty in the work
place, lower productivity and even some fluidity of the Rand - "although the
fluctuation of the Rand has very little to do with what happens in South
Africa". As far as human resource development was concerned, the future of
business and education had to be closely linked. "I believe that our human
resources are one of the most important factors of production in today's
global economy. Whether we like it or not we are part of a skills food
chain," Manuel said.

Home Affairs separates services for citizens and foreigners (Sapa, Pretoria,
1/11) - One office in each of the Home Affairs Department's 10 regions would
in future handle migration matters, while all the others would be devoted to
civic services, a spokesman said on Thursday. This would start with the
Johannesburg regional office in Harrison Street, which would from Thursday
only render migration services - those related to the management of
foreigners' entrance into the country, Leslie Mashokwe said. The Market
Street office, as well as all other offices in the region, would only render
civic services - like birth and death registrations, marriages and identity
documents. "This step is being taken in view of the fact that migration
services are becoming increasingly specialised and to subsequently create a
more professional, specialised workforce." Mashokwe said the separation was
also in line with the Immigration Bill.

Buthelezi downplays meeting with Mbeki about DG Masetlha (Sapa, Parliament,
1/11) - Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Thursday downplayed a
meeting earlier this week with the Presidency on tensions between himself
and his director general Billy Masethla. Replying to questions in the
National Assembly, he said "no conclusions were reached" at the Wednesday
meeting with President Thabo Mbeki and Deputy President Jacob Zuma. Contrary
to statements issued by the Presidency, the meeting was not convened to deal
solely with the Masetlha issue. "The impression I got from the Deputy
President was that it was a meeting that we have, the three of us, from time
to time. "At this meeting this issue, among other things, was raised but no
conclusions were reached on that," he said. Both Buthelezi - the Inkatha
Freedom Party leader - and Masetlha, a former ANC intelligence operative,
have previously asked for Mbeki's intervention. Relations between the
minister and the DG have been strained for months and Buthelezi has
claimed - backed by legal opinion of senior counsel -that Masetlha had not
had a valid employment contract since June this year. The minister last week
presented a 10-page document citing 64 examples of alleged wrongdoing by
Masetlha to the home affairs committee. He accused the director-general of
insubordination and defiance. Masetlha said in response that he was angry
and disappointed by the accusations, which he contended were part of a
campaign to vilify him.
Buthelezi told MPs that Masetlha seemed to have placed himself above the
law. By working without a valid contract, he had placed the legality of all
actions taken by the department in jeopardy. "It is possible that Mr
Masetlha is placing himself above the rule of law and creating the
invalidity of an enormous amount of actions taken by my department with
unforseeable consequences for the state. "It was also an enormous setback
for our democracy as it seems that certain people are becoming untouchable
and beyond the reach of law." In this Masetlha was receiving support from
"many sectors". Buthelezi said he, as the political head of the department,
was therefore not able to perform his constitutionally mandated function of
being accountable to Parliament. Democratic Alliance MP Raenette Taljaard
told Sapa the office of the auditor general should investigate the matter
further. "The confirmation by the Minister of Home Affairs on the floor of
Parliament that the DG did not have a contract would need to be looked at in
a very serious light by the office of the auditor general." The AG should
also request more details on the scope and terms of reference of the Public
Service Commission investigation into the status of Masetlha's contract. "I
will be following up on previous correspondence with the auditor general in
this regard," she said. Buthelezi said he had referred all information and
documentation on Masetlha's contract to the PSC following a recommendation
of Parliament's home affairs portfolio committee. The commission was
investigating the matter, but ultimately the final decision of the DG's
status rested with the president. The minister said he had only agreed to
Mbeki's request that Masetlha's contract be extended on condition that the
situation was reviewed when the president returned from an overseas trip. He
had, at that time, communicated this to Masetlha and the Cabinet, Buthelezi
said.

Tanzania

WFP feeds 486,900 refugees in Tanzania (Irin, 13/11) - At least 486,900
refugees in Kigoma, Kibondo, Kasulu and Ngara districts in northwestern
Tanzania received some 2,455 mt of food from 22 October to 4 November, the
UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in its emergency report of 9 November.
WFP reported that it supplied around 90 percent of the standard food ration
to all beneficiaries, except for 3,900 extremely vulnerable people who each
received a full ration. In addition, WFP said it supported various
therapeutic feeding centres and supplemental feeding centres with 72 mt of
food to over 18,300 malnourished persons. WFP reported that since 1 November
it has been in a position to increase the food ration scale from 80 percent
to 100 percent of the standard ration. Dood coordination meetings were held
for camp level leaders in all locations during the last two weeks to inform
the refugees of this change, it added. A regional UNHCR official told IRIN
that from 1 January to 30 September there were 6,445 Democratic Republic of
Congo refugees in Tanzania; some 3,200 of who, fleeing fighting, arrived
between 15 and 23 October.

Dar es Salaam urged not to repatriate Bujumbura refugees (TOMRIC, Dar es
Salaam, 12/11) - Some signatories of the Burundi peace agreement have asked
Tanzania government not to repatriate to Burundi, over 350,000 refugees
presently staying in local refugee camps, The Guardian has reported today.
The request is a reaction to a joint statement issued in Tanzania last week
by Parliamentary Committee on Security and Defense as well as Foreign
Affairs and International Cooperation. Speaking to The Guardian,
representatives of the four out of 19 signatories said that durable peace
was yet to be restored in Burundi. "Therefore, repatriating refugees back
home would be tantamount to subjecting them to possibly persecution upon
their arrival," the paper quotes them as saying. They stressed that
voluntary repatriation should be predicated upon restoration of peace in the
country, which has been rent by civil strife for several years. The
apprehensive signatories pointed out that tension was still high in Burundi,
in spite of recent installation of a transitional government as a formula
for lasting peace conceived by leaders of the Great Lakes Region. They
hinted that even refugees themselves were reluctant to return home, calling
for the formation of a special protection unit to protect all Burundians as
pre-conditions for doing so. In the joint statement read before the National
Assembly in Tanzania last week, Samwel Malecela, Chairman of the
Parliamentary Committee on Security and Defense and William Shija, Chairman
of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation, said refugees should be repatriated soon. They said the
government must repatriate refugees back to their home countries to avert
hatred between Tanzania and her neighboring countries.

Tanzania expels Ugandans (New Vision, Kampala, 10/11) - About 2,600 Ugandans
in camps at Kikagate near the Uganda-Tanzanian border are to be relocated to
Kyenjojo district next week. The Ugandans were recently expelled from
Tanzania where some reportedly lived for over 30 years. Officials from the
Prime Ministers Office said the health of the returnees had worsened with
some of them dying of malaria and malnutrition. There are fears that
overcrowding could lead to an outbreak of epidemics such as cholera. Mbarara
acting Resident District Commissioner Sarah Bananuka told The New Vision
yesterday that the Prime Ministers Office would start the relocation on
November 15. She said the returnees would be screened to verify their
nationality before they are moved to Kyenjonjo. She said in Kyenjonjo, the
Government would allocate a piece of land to each family of the returnees
where they will be helped to lead normal lives again. Bananuka said
Tanzanian deputy envoy to Uganda Mr T.B Kazoora visited Kikagate recently
and said his government would halt the expulsion .

More refugees arrive in Pemba (TOMRIC, Dar es Salaam, 7/11) - Two planes
landed at the Karume Airport in Pemba, Zanzibar yesterday bringing back 44
refugees from Daadab in northern Kenya, the Daily News has reported. They
are the first batch of refugees to return after the signing of the
reconciliation agreement between the ruling CCM and opposition Civic United
Front (CUF) to end political impasse in Zanzibar on October 10. The first
plane carrying 23 refugees, touched down at the airport in the morning while
the second plane, with 21 refugees arrived in the afternoon, the state
publication says. According to the publication, the planes belong to the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR). Over 2000 people,
mainly from Pemba had fled to Kenya following bloody opposition-led illegal
demonstrations of January 27 in which more than 20 people were killed. They
first settled at Shimoni in Kenya's Coast Province where they sought
refugees' status. They were later transferred to Daadab Refugee Camp in
northern Kenya. According to the Daily News, senior government officials
from office of Zanzibar Chief Minister and President's Office met
yesterday's returnees at the Pemba Airport. The returnees include Suleiman
Shariff Hamad, the son of Secretary-General of CUF, Mr. Seif Shariff Hamad.
So far about 737 refugees have already returned to Zanzibar.

Last refugees to fly home from Kenya (Irin, 6/11) - The last group of
Tanzanian refugees who fled political disturbances at home and took refuge
in Kenya in January began returning to the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar on
Tuesday morning, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) told IRIN on Monday. Confirming the repatriation in a press
release issued on Tuesday, UNHCR said two flights would leave Dadaab refugee
camp in northeastern Kenya for Pemba that day, while another two flights
would operate from Dadaab to Zanzibar on Wednesday. Once the flights have
been completed, all the remaining Tanzanian refugees in Kenyan camps will
have gone home. In total, 2,000 refugees fled Tanzania at the end of January
following clashes between security forces and protesters over elections. All
the refugees were supporters of the opposition Civic United Front, who
feared government reprisals for their part in political demonstrations.
Nearly 200 of the refugees, who were transferred to Dadaab in May, decided
last month to leave the camp and travel to the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Zambia

Congolese rebels force villagers to flee (The Post, Lusaka, 28/11) -
Congolese rebels have forced Zambians to flee their villages in Chienge
district, senior chief Puta has disclosed. Senior chief Puta yesterday said
Zambians have deserted Chipundu and Musangu villages due to continued
harassment by suspected Congolese rebels. "I appeal to government to
consider establishing a permanent army camp and police station to protect us
from Congolese rebels who are harassing people at will," he said. Senior
chief Puta said he learnt of his subjects' fate when he toured his chiefdom
to sensitise them on developmental activities, Bwile tribe traditions and
HIV/AIDS epidemic. He said headmen Lambwe Chomba, Chikwama and Swali
complained of continued harassment by the Congolese rebels who grabbed food
and livestock from the villages. Senior chief Puta said area MMD member of
parliament Katele Kalumba promised to inform Zambia National Service (ZNS)
personnel at Chipungu and Kaputa camps. He said after his visit, the
villagers agreed to do away with traditions and cultural practices which
promoted transmission of HIV/AIDS. He reiterated his demand for government
to honour his chieftaincy as pledged to the late senior chief Puta VI. He
said MMD government promised to honour the late senior chief Puta by way of
awarding him a medal. Senior chief Puta has written to Vice-President Enoch
Kavindele, informing him of his demand that the MMD government honour its
promise before December 25.

Government seeks help over Angolan refugees (The Post, Lusaka, 28/11) -
Foreign affairs minister Keli Walubita has appealed to the international
community to assist the Zambian government in dealing with Angolan refugees.
Walubita said the humanitarian situation at Nangweshi refugee camp in
Shang'ombo had worsened and required urgent redress. He was speaking when a
delegation of medical doctors paid a courtesy call on him yesterday.
Walubita said by Monday, the number of refugees at Nangweshi had swelled to
21,000.

Officials meet over border clashes with Angola (Irin, 27/11) - Zambian and
Angolan officials were expected to meet in Luanda, the Angolan capital, on
Tuesday in talks aimed at stemming cross-border raids, officials told IRIN.
The raids have killed seven Zambians and seen 140 others abducted over the
past three weeks. Senior army officials are leading the Zambian government
team in the talks which are a follow-up to a meeting in Lusaka last week
between Zambian officials and an Angolan delegation led by Deputy Foreign
Minister George Chikoti. Chikoti told reporters on arrival in Lusaka on
Friday 23 November that Angolan government troops (FAA) were not involved in
the recent cross-border attacks. He suggested that the dead Zambian
villagers were caught in crossfire between FAA and Angolan rebel UNITA
fighters, that Luanda allege are using Zambian territory. Chikoti's denial
of government involvement came after Zambian President Frederick Chiluba
announced that 10 FAA troopers were killed last week by Zambian soldiers on
the border, and reports of the capture of two Angolan army officers who had
strayed into the country.
There have been few detailed official reports about the situation on the
ground in Zambia's Western Province, where the clashes took place. However,
local sources told IRIN tensions remain high in the area. Scores of
villagers outside the border town of Senanga have fled their homes in the
wake of repeated attacks by marauding armed men. Many have sought sanctuary
at a school in the town. Last week, the raids extended to villages outside
Kalabo, another border town, where rampaging soldiers reportedly raped
several women. Zambian Defence Minister Joshua Simuyandi conceded at the
weekend that Zambian forces did not have the capacity to completely seal the
border against invaders. "Our people must appreciate that we are faced with
a long border. It is not possible that we can guarantee patrols on every
inch of the border," Simuyandi said. Meanwhile, University of Zambia [UNZA]
students and lecturers threatened to stage anti-Angolan demonstrations in
the capital if Angolan forces invaded Zambia again. "We would like to warn
that, as ordinary Zambians, we will not tolerate such irresponsibility from
Angolan forces again," the students and lecturers said in a petition. "If we
hear of any other atrocities, we will stage a demonstration to the Angolan
embassy in Lusaka to attract world media attention." The spate of raids on
Zambian villages started on 7 November, when suspected Angolan soldiers
abducted 103 people and killed at least seven others. Subsequent raids saw
another 37 Zambians being abducted and several women being raped. Relations
between Zambia and Angola have been frosty since the late 1990s, when Angola
accused Zambia of allowing arms shipments to UNITA through its territory in
defiance of a UN ban on support for the rebel movement. The Zambian
government denied supporting UNITA. Both governments said earlier this year
that relations had improved with the creation of a joint security committee
to oversee border problems, which was later extended to include Namibia.

Zambia sends military team to Angola over border trouble (Sapa-AFP, Lusaka,
25/11) - The Zambian government is sending a senior military delegation to
Angola in a bid to resolve renewed tensions over border conflict between the
two countries, Defence Minister Joshua Siamuyandi said Sunday. Siamuyandi
told state ZNBC radio that the delegation, headed by a deputy army
commander, would leave Lusaka on Sunday for Luanda. Tensions on the border
have been running high since suspected Angolan soldiers two weeks ago killed
seven Zambian villagers after abducting more than 60 others in Shang'ombo,
near the border with Angola. In response, Zambian soldiers killed ten
Angolans. According to ZNBC, the delegation is expected to meet senior
Angolan army officials. Siamuyandi said that after the meeting, he expected
that there would be no repeat of the incursions and attacks, blamed on
Angolan soldiers said to have been crossing into western Zambia on the
pretext of pursuing rebels. The Angolan government has been fighting rebels
of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) almost
ceaselessly since 1975. Luanda and UNITA blame each other for cross-border
incursions into Zambia. Angolan President Eduardo Dos Santos recently sent
an envoy to Zambian President Frederick Chiluba to apologise for the recent
incidents at the frontier.

Angola denies Zambia's accusations of border incursions (Sapa-DPA, Lusaka,
22/11) - The Angolan government on Thursday denied claiming portions of
Zambian territory along the 3,000 kilometre common frontier in the west
following the recent abduction and killing of several Zambians by MPLA
soldiers. The denial comes amid fresh reports that Angolan government
soldiers had raped over 15 Zambian women in the country's Western Province
along the border, resulting in the Zambian government sending more security
reinforcements to the area. Zambia !protested to the United Nations over the
latest aggression from the neighbouring state. Angolan President Jose
Eduardo dos Santos' special envoy, Georgi Chicoti, in an interview with
journalists in Lusaka said that Angola had not occupied any of Zambia's
land. "Angola has not occupied any Zambian territory and does not intend to
do that," said Chicoti, who is also Angola's deputy Foreign Affairs
Minister. Chicoti also denied that MPLA soldiers abducted and killed
Zambians following the incursions that have left hundreds of Zambian
villagers living along the border area displaced. Said Chicoti: "We have not
captured any Zambian civilians and no verifications have been made and no
Zambian officials have confirmed that." Two weeks ago MPLA forces raided
Zambian villages and abducted over 150 Zambians. The Angolan soldiers shot
and killed seven people, including a village headman, a local school head
and a nurse. They released 83 and are still keeping over 60 in captivity.
Chicoti said that it was not easy to prove that it was the MPLA soldiers who
killed the Zambians, adding that they were caught in crossfire between the
MPLA and rebel UNITA forces in a fight that ensued close to the border.
Chicoti, who was sent to deliver a message to President Frederick Chiluba by
Dos Santos on the same matter that has led to heightened border tensions
between the two countries, said that his government regretted the incidence.
"We are very sorry, the conflict in Angola provoked the incident," said
Chicoti. He said the tripartite mechanism for political and security
co-operation between the Zambia, Angola and Namibiat would meet next Monday
to iron out the matter and improve verifications mechanisms. Chicoti said
that Angola was in a conflict situation and that the border distinction in
the area was not precise. "You have a neighbour who has a war and this
conflict overlapses sometimes," he said.

Government seeks more aid for refugees (The Post, Lusaka, 20/11) - The
Zambian government has appealed to rich countries to consider granting more
aid to African refugees. Opening a United Nations High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR) media workshop at Lusaka's Mulungushi International
Conference Centre yesterday, Ministry of Home Affairs permanent secretary
Peter Mwamfuli said African governments were constrained to adequately
provide for their refugees hence the need for the world's stable economies
to come to their aid. "The government is well aware that there should be a
good balance between what is provided for refugees and surrounding
communities," he said. Mwamfuli said there was need for proper planning to
ensure that nationals also benefit from the improved infrastructure existing
in refugee resettlement areas. H e said the media played a critical role in
enhancing public awareness on the plight of refugees. Mwamfuli said the
understanding of refugee issues by the media would ensure factual reporting.
He said there was a danger in having an uninformed public as it would lead
to xenophobia and other related intorerances. "In this regard, it is
imperative that the constraints faced by the government, UNHCR and other
co-operating partners in the management of refugees be highlighted by the
media," he said. At the same occasion, UNHCR resident representative Ahmed
Gubartalla said his agency was concerned with the situation at Nangweshi
refugee camp in Western Province where over 5,000 refugees are now being
kept at a nearby reception side since the camp has reached its maximum
capacity of 15,000. Gubartalla said the situation could worsen with the
onset of the rainy season. He said it was because of such challenges that
the media was considered critical to the solution of refugee problems. "As
UNHCR, we appreciate the role the media can play in this area. This is why
we consider you our allies and partners," he said. Gubartalla urged the
participating journalists to consider covering issue based stories on
refugees as opposed to those based on statistics. He said journalists could
take angles on food, education and HIV/AIDS on their stories on refugees.
Gubartalla urged the participants to come up with practical measures in
their deliberations. He paid tribute to the Zambian government and its
people for hosting refugees. "We salute their commitment to the noble
institution of asylum amid formidable challenges,"said Gubartalla.

Border tense as villagers return (Irin, 13/11) - The Zambian-Angolan border
remained tense on Monday, but no new incursions by Angolan troops (FAA) were
reported since a raid on villages at the end of last week in which at least
seven Zambians died, a Zambian government official told IRIN. "The situation
is tense but since Friday when fresh (Zambian) troops were deployed there
hasn't been any new incursions," the official said. According to a BBC
report on Monday, the Zambian authorities summoned the Angolan ambassador to
express their concern over the raid into southwestern Zambia last Friday in
which at least seven villagers were shot dead and some 80 people, mostly
women and children, abducted. Some of those captured from the Shangombo area
began to make their way home over the weekend, but Zambia's Information
Minister Vernon Mwaanga told the BBC that 20 people were still unaccounted
for. News reports said the Angolan troops crossed the border to hunt down
UNITA rebels amid a continuing Angolan refugee influx into Zambia's Western
province. "That doesn't make a lot of sense. They say they are coming to
pursue UNITA, but UNITA is in Angola," the official said. "I think it's
units deployed along the border who are doing this and not with the blessing
of the high command."

Cross-border raids by Angolan troops are not uncommon, and have often
involved livestock theft. However, relations between the two countries have
improved with the establishment of a joint security commission to
investigate border incidents. According to UNHCR and the Zambian government,
a screening system to weed out combatants from among the refugees is in
place, and so far no UNITA fighters have been detected since the latest
influx began in mid-October. Instead, the arrivals are mainly women and
children, and mine victims fleeing an Angolan government offensive across
the border, UNHCR spokesman Kelvin Shimo told IRIN. He added that fighting
had also intensified further north in Angola's Moxico region, as witnessed
by the arrival of 300 refugees into Zambia's neighbouring Northwest province
in recent days. Meanwhile, the new arrivals into southwestern Zambia are
being accommodated at a temporary site outside the remote Nangweshi refugee
camp which has reached its capacity of more than 15,000. UNHCR is concerned
that with the rains starting to fall, negotiations need to be finalised soon
with the government for their transfer across the flood-prone Zambezi river
to a new location around the town of Senenga. The proposed new site, 170 km
from the border, was previously used to accommodate Namibian refugees and
has the capacity to hold 20,000 to 30,000 people, the Zambian government
official said. However, he pointed out that the government had run into
problems in securing land from the local community in the area. "It's a big,
big problem to get the land. The chiefs are asking what more do the refugees
bring other than insecurity? It calls for something to be done by the
international community. Development, that's the only way," he told IRIN.

Angolan refugees continue to flee into Zambia (Zambezi Times Online, Lusaka,
6/11) - The inflow of Angolan refugees into Zambia's Western and
North-Western provinces is continuing over the past month, the United
Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Zambia said on Monday. A
statement released from the UNHCR country office said that an estimated
4,000 Angolan refugees, fleeing fighting in some Angolan border towns, have
crossed into the two Zambian border provinces in the past month, adding that
they are entering at a rate of several hundreds per week. Among the new
arrivals are amputees and the injured, the statement said. It added that the
UNHCR is working together with the Zambian authorities at the entry points
to screen the new arrivals. "The new arrivals have placed a number of
challenges on the refugee operation. Donors have continued to render their
support to the operation, however, more support is needed in the area of
food, shelter and health," the statement said. Since the Nangweshi refugee
camp has reached its full capacity of 15,000, UNHCR requested the Zambian
government to provide a new site to cope with the inflow, the statement
said. "The additional 4,000 refugees who recently transferred to the camp
have no land and are being kept at a reception center. With the onset of the
rainy season, their condition could worsen," it added. Zambia hosts about
260,000 refugees, most of whom are from neighboring Angola and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Zimbabwe

World media body concerned over Zimbabwe threats to journalists (Sapa-AP,
Harare, 29/11) - The Paris-based World Association of Newspapers (WAN)
Thursday expressed concern at threats against journalists in Zimbabwe after
the government accused them of aiding "terrorism". A government spokesman
last week accused the correspondents from The Times of London, The Guardian,
The Daily Telegraph, The The Independent, South Africa's Star and The
Zimbabwe Independent of distorting the truth and aiding terrorism. "We are
concerned that the threats made against these journalists are part of an
ongoing campaign to stifle free expression in Zimbabwe," said WAN in a
letter addressed to President Robert Mugabe. The letter reminded Mugabe that
the state must ensure an environment in which journalists can operate
without fear of attack or intimidation. "We respectfully ask you to clearly
state that there is no link between journalism and terrorism and urge you to
do everything in your power to ensure that all journalists are permitted to
fully exercise their fundamental right to free expression," WAN said.
Britain, the United States and various international media bodies have
criticised the government for accusing journalists of aiding terrorism.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw threatened diplomatic action against
Harare over the issue at the weekend. The US State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said Zimbabwe's government accusations "reflect a continuing
trend of harassment of the free press by the government of Zimbabwe". Last
week, the government approved a Public Order and Security Bill (POSB) as
part of its latest bid to curb "terrorism". The proposed POSB carries the
death penalty for acts of "insurgency, banditry, sabotage and terrorism", as
well as the threat of jail and fines for anyone who "undermines the
authority of the president" or "engenders hostility" towards the president.

Zimbabweans continue to seek land in Mozambique (Sapa-AP, Maputo, 28/11) -
Zimbabwe's white commercial farmers, forced off their farms by a
controversial government land resettlement exercise, continue to seek land
in Mozambique, a senior government official said Wednesday. "We expect a
significant number of Zimbabwean farmers to start working in the central
province of Manica early next year," Agriculture and Rural Development
Minister Helder Muteia told AFP. Muteia said between 70 and 80 Zimbabwean
applications had been approved. "We're now waiting for them to bring in
concrete investmen!ts," he added. At least 10 Zimbabwean farmers are already
working in the fertile central Mozambican province, he said. He said the
farmers would not receive more than 1,000 hectares (2,400 acres) of land
each. The Zimbabwean government has seized 4,558 white-owned farms totalling
8.8 million hectares (21.7 million acres) for redistribution to landless
blacks, since it launched the scheme last year. Mozambique has more than 30
million hectares (72 million acres) of arable land but only five per cent of
that land is currently under use.

Zimbabweans enrol in foreign universities in record numbers (The Insider,
Harare, 26/11) - The Great Trek continues. Some 1 703 students from Zimbabwe
have enrolled at universities in the United States of America in 2000/2001
according to the American Universities Admission Programme. It says this is
a 43.8 percent increase. In 1992 only 620 Zimbabwean students were admitted
at US universities. But of course it is not only Zimbabweans flocking to the
United States. AUAP says a new record 547 684 foreign students were admitted
to US universities in 2000/2001, an increase of 6.4 percent over the
previous year. The majority of the foreign students came from China. The
number increased by 10 percent to 59 939. India was second with 54 664
students but this was a 29.1 percent increase over the previous year. The
number of foreign students from Japan declined by nearly one percent to 46
497. There was no African country in the top 10. The bulk of the students
were from Asia constituting 55 percent. Those from Europe represented only
15 percent; Latin America, the US's neighbour, 12 percent; the Middle East 7
percent; and Africa only 6 percent. Foreign students pour some US$11 billion
into the US economy in tuition fees, living expenses and related costs,
according to AUAP. Students from Africa are therefore on average spending
some US$660 million, enough to wipe off Zimbabwe's external arrears. AUAP
says the attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in September had
done very little to stop foreign students from applying to study in the US.
It says while there was a drop for 10 days soon after the bombings, the
surge in applications in October more than compensated for the drop after
the attack. While there are no figures for other countries, most Zimbabweasn
prefer to go to the United Kingdom and South Africa. South Africa has been
trying to deport more than 15 000 Zimbabwean farm workers. According to
Finance Minister Simba Makoni, Zimbabwe lost 41 doctors and 341 nurses this
year alone.

US assails Zimbabwe over tactics against journalists (Sapa-AFP, Washington,
26/11) - The United States Monday joined in the growing chorus of derision
aimed at Zimbabwe's government, after a spokesman last week accused
journalists of aiding terrorism. "The statements reflect a continuing trend
of harassment of the free press by the government of Zimbabwe," State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters. "Furthermore, the
United States rejects any comparison between the international coalition's
fight against terrorism and the deterioration of the rule of law and the
state-sponsored violence that has emerged in Zimbabwe." British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw has already threatened diplomatic action against
Zimbabwe after Harare accused journalists, including four working for
British newspapers, of aiding terrorists. President Robert Mugabe's
government has been widely criticized for its attacks on the independent
press - which in recent months have included the arrest of local
journalists, the expulsion of foreign correspondents and tacit allegations
the press supports the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The
government also recently accused opposition members of being terrorists, and
blamed the MDC for the murder of a veteran war leader, Cain Nkala, who was
abducted from his home in Bulawayo City, in the south of Zimbabwe, two weeks
ago. A spokesman for Mugabe on Friday accused Zimbabwe correspondents for
Britain's Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, and The Independent
newspapers as well as the Associated Press of distorting truth and assisting
terrorists in their reports. Reporters for South Africa's Star and the
Zimbabwe Independent were also included in the accusations. The spokesman's
comments responded to a letter reportedly sent by the US embassy to Harare,
protesting the recent beating of civilians in Bulawayo, allegedly by ruling
party supporters. Boucher did not comment on the reported letter but said
the United States would continue as it had in the past to raise its deep
concerns about the government's policies. "The United States has and will
continue to call upon the government of Zimbabwe to cease its harassment of
the free press, to reestablish the rule of law, and to take steps to ensure
that the will of the people is respected in the upcoming presidential
election," he said. Boucher also noted Harare's refusal to issue visas to
reporters from the Washington Post and New York Times as well as its
decision not to entertain requests for visas for other foreign reporters.
"This, too, appears to be another attempt on the part of the government of
Zimbabwe to limit scrutiny of its campaign of political violence and
intimidation," he said.

Press group slams Zimbabwe over treatment of journalists (Sapa-AFP, Vienna,
26/11) - The International Press Institute (IPI) on Monday vehemently
criticised the Zimbabwe government for accusing journalists based in the
country of helping terrorists. In a strongly-worded statement, the IPI
strenously denied that correspondents for Britain's Daily Telegraph, The
Times, The Guardian, and The Independent newspapers distorted truth and
assisted terrorists through their reports. A Zimbabwean government spokesman
made the allegations about the British journalists in an article published
in the state-run newspaper the Herald on Friday. The spokesman said
journalists working for South Africa's Star, The Zimbabwe ere also guilty.
In a letter to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, IPI director Johann Fritz
condemned "the government's overwhelming desire to control the free flow of
information". He added that the "spurious claim" that Zimbabwe
correspondents were aiding terrorists was laying "the foundations for the
application of the proposed Public Order and Security Bill (POSB) against
the media". The POSB carries the death penalty for acts of "insurgency,
banditry, sabotage and terrorism", as well as the threat of jail and fines
for anyone who "undermines the authority of the president" or "engenders
hostility" towards him. The IPI called on Mugabe to repudiate his
spokesman's statements and "affirm the right of the media to report freely
in Zimbabwe". "The government of Zimbabwe has made an express commitment to
freedom of expression and IPI would invite you to honour these promises,
free of the rancorous and vitriolic language which has so far characterised
Your Excellency's dealings with the media," Fritz wrote. British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw threatened diplomatic action against Zimbabwe over the
issue on Saturday. Mugabe's government has been widely criticized for its
attacks on the independent press. In recent months, the Zimbabwean
authorities have arrested local journalists, expelled foreign correspondents
and tacitly accused the press of supporting the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC). The government also recently accused members of
opposition parties of being terrorists, and blamed the MDC for the murder of
war veterans leader, Cain Nkala, who was abducted from his home in Bulawayo
city, in the south of Zimbabwe, two weeks ago. The government spokesman's
comments Friday came in response to a letter reportedly sent by the United
States embassy to Harare, protesting against the recent beating of civilians
in Bulawayo, allegedly by ruling party supporters. The beatings were
reported by independent and foreign media as retaliatory attacks against
whites and the MDC, both blamed for Nkala's murder.

US calls for Zimbabwe to relax press controls (Sapa-DPA, Washington,
26/11) - The United States called Monday on Robert Mugabe's government in
Zimbabwe to stop harassing reporters covering the political unrest in that
country. Mugabe's recent statement that journalists were "terrorists"
reflects "a continuing trend of harassment of a free press by the government
of Zimbabwe", said U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"Furthermore, the United States rejects any comparison between the
international coalition's fight against terrorism and the deterioration of
the rule of law and the state-sponsored violence that has emerged in
Zimbabwe," Boucher said. "The United States has and will continue to call
upon the government of Zimbabwe to cease its harassment of the free press,
to re-establish the rule of law and to take steps to ensure that the will of
the people is respected in the upcoming presidential election," he added.

302 tobacco farmers quit (The Insider, Harare, 26/11) - Some 302 tobacco
farmers are not planting this season because of intimidation. This season's
crop is expected to be about 153.7 million kgs, a drop of 48.6 million kgs
from last season's 202.3 million kgs. A survey done by the Zimbabwe Tobacco
Association showed that 70 percent of the farmers were not planting because
of intimidation. Labour dismissal and extortion accounted for 7.5 percent
each. Thirty-four farmers had left or abandoned their farms accounting for
the remaining 15 percent. The survey showed that some 244 farmers had been
partially affected but the figure could be as high as 500. Mashonaland East
was the worst affected with almost half the land not being planted. While 60
percent of the farms in Mashonaland West and Central were occupied most of
them were operational with 83 percent operating normally in Mashonaland West
and 95 percent in Manicaland. The number of occupied farms in Mashonaland
East is not known but operations have been hindered at half of the farms.
The survey indicated that while 67 380 hectares were under crop last season
only 50 163 hectares will be planted this season. The survey showed that 20
000 hectares were under irrigation, down from 26 000 last season. The
irrigated crop is expected to yield 66.5 million kgs while the dryland crop
will bring in a further 87.2 million kgs. Small-scale producers could add a
further 10 to 12 million kgs, up from last season's 7.4 million kgs. Last
season 202.3 million kgs were sold at the auction floors at an average price
of US$3.18 cents bringing in some US$642.5 million. This was a vast
improvement from the previous year when 236.7 million kgs were sold at an
average price of US$16.90 bringing in about US$400 million.

Kenyan commentary on Zimbabwean crisis (The Nation, Nairobi, 24/11) -
Zimbabwe's latest outrageous event is President Robert Mugabe's ruling that
only those who hold valid land title deeds will vote in the next elections.
This disenfranchisement of the majority demonstrates the complete hypocrisy
of the former comrade's racialisation of Zimbabwe's valid economic and
social struggles. For it shows just whom he is worried about in the
electoral process. He is obviously not in the least bit worried about the
white Zimbabwean population. He has given them ample reasons to wish to see
him and his political party out of power over the last few years. It is the
black Zimbabweans, in whose name he has ostensibly been fighting. It is the
rural Zimbabweans on whom he has unleashed unacknowledged terror through the
so-called war veterans. It is the peasant and the working class he has
absolutely impoverished in the last couple of years. For these are the
Zimbabweans likely to be without valid land titles. These are the
Zimbabweans he seeks to disenfranchise.

Manipulation of rights - However, hypocrisy aside, this Zimbabwean example
illustrates a bigger and more disturbing African trend. This year alone has
witnessed, from Cote d'Ivoire to Tanzania and to Zambia, namely, the
manipulation of citizenship rights in the ruling party's narrow and
short-term economic and political interests. In Kampala, last week, a
regional conference of academics and activists was convened by the Pan
African Movement to discuss this trend to determine its relationship to
regional conflicts. At first glance, the connection between citizenship and
conflict is not immediately clear. But, if citizenship is defined as
identification with and by a state, as a result of which legal rights and
responsibilities are accrued and conferred, the link becomes more obvious.
The problems with citizenship in our region also become more obvious through
that definition. For citizenship assumes the existence of a state - even a
nation-state. And we all can easily recognise and bemoan the fact that our
inheritance of and determination to abide by state borders drawn up at the
Berlin Conference of the late 1885 has left us with a two-sided issue that
we have yet to adequately resolve. On the one hand, our states are not
nation-states. Their borders subsume many disparate nations into one state.
On the other, their borders cut through several nations. Thus, questions of
power and resource distribution continue to underlie economic and political
discourse even today, as do questions resulting from the fluidity and
permeability of our lived experience with and refusal to pander to the
divided state loyalties that our borders would impose on us.
Violent electoral processes - In best-case scenarios, these questions are on
the constitutional and legal reform agendas for debate in our region, as can
be seen through unitary-versus-federal debates,
centralised-versus-decentralised-local-administration debates, and so on.
But in worst-case scenarios, these questions find their answers in abusive
and violent electoral processes, deliberately distorted to legitimise and
validate only the citizenship rights of some rather than of all. In Kampala,
several common features were pointed out about the manner in which
citizenship is handled in the region. For former British colonies,
legislation on citizenship is almost directly derived from the British
Nationalities Act of the time, creating several classes of citizenship, of
which citizenship by birth (rather than by naturalisation or registration)
is privileged. The privileging of birth is, however, negated by the fact
that the burden of proof of parentage rests on the claimant. Which brings
us, in some ways, to the ethnic-versus-civic citizenship dilemma so well
articulated by Uganda's Prof Mahmood Mamdani some years back. For
recalcitrant states could easily decide to totally withdraw or partially
withhold a person's citizenship right even though he has always lived in
that state but has an equally valid claim to another state. But, as Prof
Ahmed Mohiddin noted, at the end of the day, it is the human factor that
counts. As we move into our own electoral and constitutional reform
processes, shall we degenerate once again and play into Kenya's current
exclusionary nature of citizenship? Or shall we admit complexity and take
responsibility for our own attitudes to citizenship and the rights that it
must confer? Ms Wanyeki is executive director of African Women's Development
and Communication Network

Zimbabwe accuses foreign journalists of aiding 'terrorists' (Sapa-AP,
Harare, 23/11) - The Zimbabwe government on Friday named a list of foreign
and local journalists it accuses of aiding terrorist activities in the
country, the state-run Herald reported. "It is now an open secret that these
reporters are not only distorting the facts but are assisting terrorists who
stand accused in our courts of law of abduction, torture and murder," an
unnamed government spokesman told the paper. The government spokesman named
the correspondents from The Times of London, The Independent, South Africa's
Star and The Zimbabwe Independent. President Robert Mugabe's government has
been widely criticized for its attacks on the independent press. In recent
months, authorities have arrested local journalists, expelled foreign
correspondents and tacitly accused the press of supporting the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The government recently accused
opposition members of being terrorists, and blamed the MDC for the murder of
a war veteran leader, Cain Nkala, who was abducted from his home in Bulawayo
city, southwestern of Zimbabwe two weeks ago. At least 15 MDC members and
officials, including one lawmaker, have been arrested in connection with the
murder of Nkala and a youth member of the ruling party. The spokesman's
comments Friday were in response to a letter reportedly sent by the United
States embassy to the Zimbabwe government, protesting against the recent
beating of civilians in Bulawayo, allegedly by ruling party supporters. The
beatings were reported by independent and foreign media as retaliatory
attacks against whites and the MDC, both blamed for Nkala's murder. "We are
very concerned about the obscene misrepresentation of facts by the so-called
foreign correspondents," the spokesman said. The US embassy letter would
likely spark a diplomatic row, the paper said. The government spokesman said
the journalists concerned should know that "we agree with (US) President
George Bush that anyone who in any way finances, harbours or defends
terrorists is himself a terrorist."

Zimbabwe to insist on ID cards to combat terrorism (Sapa-AFP, Harare,
22/11) - The Zimbabwe government wants people to carry identity documents at
all times, as part of a widening campaign against crime and terrorism, the
state-run Herald said Thursday. The move comes despite a landmark 1997
ruling by the country's Supreme Court that found such a requirement
unconstitutional. The proposed changes, expected to be tabled in parliament
soon, aim to deal with "increasing criminal and terrorism activities," the
paper said. Proposed penalties for not carrying identity documents will
include stiff fines or jail sentences. Officials of the ruling Zimbabwe
African National Union - Patriotic Front, have recently accused the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of committing acts of
terrorism. The accusations follow the murder of a prominent ZANU-PF
supporter and war veteran leader, Cain Nkala, which ZANU-PF claims was
committed by the MDC. The opposition denies the charges. The proposed
measures follow the government's approval of a Public Order and Security
Bill, also set to be tabled in parliament soon, which advocates stiff new
measures to combat terrorism. Under the bill, a possible death sentence is
proposed for acts of insurgency and terrorism, as well as severe penalties
against journalists and others found spreading false news about the
president and the state.

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Christina Decarie
Project Administrator, Southern African Migration Project
11 St. Lawrence Avenue, Queen's University, Kingston ON Canada K7L 3N6
phone: 1-613-533-6964 fax: 1-613-533-2171 http://www.queensu.ca/samp