See also
| By province |  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political movements |
| ||||||
| Trade unions and Social movements | |||||||
| Law | |||||||
| Political culture |
| ||||||
| Other |
| ||||||
People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) is a community-based, grass roots non-profit organisation fighting for the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants in Cape Town, South Africa. [1]
PASSOP offers a range of services including: help desks that offer paralegal advice, integration events and workshops, a Disabled Children Support Project, an African Solidarity Education Project, assistance with documentation issues, ZDP Permits and Appeals, monitoring of Internally Displaced Persons camps and other advocacy and education projects. [2]
PASSOP was founded in 2007 by a group of Zimbabweans and spearheaded by Braam Hanekom. Though originally established in response to increased tensions between Zimbabwean foreign nationals fleeing Robert Mugabe's increasingly repressive regime and South African citizens who blamed them for crime and unemployment. [3] PASSOP has since become a leading advocate [4] for refugees and immigrants to demand human rights in South Africa. Staffed by volunteers and funded primarily through donations, PASSOP has had a large impact on the debate around the situation of documented and undocumented immigrants in South Africa, vowing to be a "voice for the voiceless". [5] Passop is an Afrikaans word meaning beware. [6] PASSOP is unique amongst other South African non-profit organisations in that it is an advocacy and activist organisation that draws the majority of its members and volunteers from the refugee community.
By identifying and exposing corruption within the Home Affairs Department's Refugee Reception Centre, PASSOP has helped to increase the number of asylum seekers being served each day (from around 20 before the creation of PASSOP to now over 200). Through protest action, PASSOP has brought the issues of corruption and xenophobia to the public eye. [7] [8]
In November 2007, PASSOP set the tone for its protest activism in its advocacy for the refugees who were forced to wait in massive queues outside of Cape Town's Department of Home Affairs Refugee Center. At that time, the Department of Home Affairs processed only 20 asylum applications daily, while 600 to 2,000 refugees camped outside the department in a queue circling the block. [9] Many foreign nationals waited in the queue for weeks; one, Adonis Musati, starved to death while waiting to receive asylum documents that he was entitled to by law. [10]
Following this death, PASSOP lodged a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and raised funds to repatriate Musati's body to Zimbabwe. [11] PASSOP members also staged several protests at the Refugee Center and lobbied the Parliament on behalf of those refugees still waiting in the queue. [12] As a direct result, Cape Town's Department of Home Affairs now services between 180 and 300 applications daily.
There are a large number of immigrants living in South Africa, estimates varying between one and three million. [13] Massive documentation backlogs, poor queue management, corruption, and a general lack of resources at the Refugee Reception Centres across South Africa, coupled with an incoherent immigration policy in general has led to a situation in which most of immigrants in South Africa are undocumented. [14] It is these undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees that are the most vulnerable, most marginalised section of South Africa's population. [15]
This group of undocumented immigrants is acutely under-represented in labour unions, civil society and community activism efforts, and not represented at all politically. This lack of representation leaves them with compromised access to education, health care, labour rights, shelter, and even the most basic human rights. They are among the most easily and widely exploited individuals in South Africa, and are often made the victims of targeted hate crimes and xenophobic aggression. In 2008, more than 60 immigrants were killed and over 30,000 people were forcefully displaced as a result of xenophobic attacks throughout South Africa. In 2009, the attacks were repeated and over 3,000 people were displaced in the Western Cape alone. PASSOP fights for the rights of this acutely marginalised group of people.
For example, following xenophobic attacks in several informal settlements in the Western Cape and Gauteng in May and June 2008, PASSOP was a vocal member of the Civil Society Task Team, set up by the SAHRC in response to the massive influx of foreign nationals into refugee camps. PASSOP worked closely with both South Africans and foreign nationals to negotiate the refugees' peaceful reintegration into their communities. [16] PASSOP remains a forum in which refugees can speak out about the conditions in which they now live in South Africa. PASSOP works closely with community leaders in the Zimbabwean, Congolese and Somali community structures to address issues, concerns and problems facing refugees and immigrants within Cape Town. In this, PASSOP especially advocates for undocumented immigrants who often have no civil representation.
PASSOP collaborates with students and has many student volunteers from the University of Cape Town who assist and support it in many of its day-to-day functions. Moreover, PASSOP is the beneficiary of the annual Cape Town Zimfest Music festival, first held in the Good Hope centre, Cape Town on 6 September 2008. The musical event features performers including Freshlyground, The Rudimentals, The Dirty Skirts, Ike Moriz, New Altum, Tristan Waterkeyn and Coda. [17]
PASSOP maintains that definitions of refugees and asylum seekers need to be reformulated to take into account breadline refugees. The situation in Zimbabwe is so appalling that people must choose between leaving their homes in search of a means of survival or remaining at home to starve. [18] The economic condition in Zimbabwe is so extreme it constitutes a humanitarian crisis. [19] People in Zimbabwe are so destitute that many are below the breadline, meaning they cannot even afford basic food and are therefore driven out of their own country, seeking subsistence survival in South Africa and other Southern African nations. [20] PASSOP wants to make the South African public aware of the lack of choice people have in their decisions to cross the border. [21] PASSOP is against all xenophobic attacks on immigrants and maintains that the right to freedom and dignity is one of all persons residing in South Africa, whether here legally or illegally. PASSOP has made their disappointment with South African foreign policy known through the media and public protests. PASSOP continues to demand immediate improvement in the services provided to refugees and asylum seekers by the Department of Home Affairs.[ citation needed ]
| By province | | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political movements |
| ||||||
| Trade unions and Social movements | |||||||
| Law | |||||||
| Political culture |
| ||||||
| Other |
| ||||||
Jeppestown is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.
The National Action was a short-lived South African political party formed by Cassie Aucamp when he left the Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging (AEB) in the 2003 floor-crossing window. The AEB, along with other Afrikaner parties, was merging into the Freedom Front Plus to contest the 2004 elections but the National Action, claiming to support Afrikaner interests, remained separate, and competed in the 2004 elections. It won no seats in the National Assembly of South Africa or any of the provincial legislatures. It did not contest the 2009 elections.
University Estate is a mainly residential suburb of Cape Town located at the foot of Devil's Peak to the east of the city. University Estate has the postcode 7925.
Moeletsi Goduka Mbeki is a South African political economist and the deputy chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs, an independent think tank based at the University of the Witwatersrand, and is a political analyst for Nedcor Bank. He is a member of the executive council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) which is based in London. He is the younger brother of former President Thabo Mbeki and son of ANC leader Govan Mbeki. He has been a frequent critic of President Mbeki.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was inaugurated in October 1995 as an independent chapter nine institution. It draws its mandate from the South African Constitution by way of the Human Rights Commission Act of 1994.
Prior to 1994, immigrants from elsewhere faced discrimination and even violence in South Africa. After majority rule in 1994, contrary to expectations, the incidence of xenophobia increased. Between 2000 and March 2008, at least 67 people died in what were identified as xenophobic attacks. In May 2008, a series of attacks left 62 people dead; although 21 of those killed were South African citizens. The attacks were motivated by xenophobia. In 2015, another nationwide spike in xenophobic attacks against immigrants in general prompted a number of foreign governments to begin repatriating their citizens. A Pew Research poll conducted in 2018 showed that 62% of South Africans viewed immigrants as a burden on society by taking jobs and social benefits and that 61% of South Africans thought that immigrants were more responsible for crime than other groups. Between 2010 and 2017 the immigrant community in South Africa increased from 2 million people to 4 million people. The proportion of South Africa's total population that is foreign born increased from 2.8% in 2005 to 7% in 2019, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration, in spite of widespread xenophobia in the country. This made South Africa the largest recipient of immigrants on the African continent in 2019.
There is a significant population of Zimbabweans in South Africa, making up South Africa's largest group of foreign migrants. Estimates of their numbers range from one to five million.
The Southern Africa region experiences a relatively high influx of immigration into South Africa. As of 2019, the immigration rate is continuing to increase, and the role of the female population of migrants is significantly growing in this movement and settlement. The majority of immigrants are working residents and influence the presence of several sectors in South Africa. The demographic background of this group is diverse, and the countries of origin mainly belong to Sub-Saharan Africa and push migration south. A portion have qualified as refugees since the 1990s.
The Cape Independence Party (CAPEXIT), previously called the Cape Party, is a political party in South Africa which seeks to use all constitutional and legal means to bring about Cape Independence, which includes the entire Western Cape, Northern Cape, six municipalities in the Eastern Cape, and one municipality in the Free State. The area includes all municipalities in those provinces with an Afrikaans-speaking majority. In 2009, it had a membership of approximately 1,000 people across South Africa which has grown to over 10,000 by 2017.
Impact Direct Ministries (IDM), established in 2001, is a non-profit community-based organisation operating in South Africa with the main operational base in Cape Town, Western Cape. It was founded by Apostle Roger Petersen and operated by Cape Town Christian Fellowship Church. IDM serves local communities through a number of outreach programs and is known for The Reconstructed Project, a program to reconstruct ex-drug addicts. Other projects include youth outreach, children's aftercare, seniors and entrepreneurship programs. IDM is also one of the partners with CPUT, Department of Information Technology, who started the Athlone Living lab.
The Reformed Apostolic Church was a millinalistic personality cult under the leadership of a former Elder, Freddie Isaacs of the Reformed Old Apostolic Church. It was part of a branch within Christianity known as Irvingism and is separate from Protestantism
Viktor Ivanovich Bondarenko is a Russian professional football coach and a former player who is mostly known for coaching in Africa for many years. He coached Mozambique twice. In 2009, he managed Primeiro de Agosto, but was fired in July.
Carrim Ali was a police captain in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, whose murder made national headlines. On June 18, 2009, his alleged killers won a controversial appeal against their sentence.
Zoran Pešić is a Serbian former professional football player and manager.
The Lindela Repatriation Centre is a detention centre for undocumented migrants in South Africa. The Lindela Repatriation Centre (Lindela) is one of South Africa's largest facilities for the holding of undocumented migrants. These people are all awaiting determination of their legal status in South Africa. Due to an ever increasing burden on SAPS holding cells and the lack of detention capacity in the country's prisons, the need for a repatriation centre in Gauteng was identified by the Department of Home Affairs. In 1996, Lindela was opened to meet this requirement. It claims to be compliant with all good governance and lawful criteria.
Fatima Ismail Chohan is a South African politician and activist who is currently deputy chair of the South African Human Rights Commission. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), Chohan was formerly a member of the National Assembly of South Africa, where she served from 1996 to 2019.
Fit to Govern: The native intelligence of Thabo Mbeki is a 2007 biography of Former South African President Thabo Mbeki by British West Indian writer Ronald Suresh Roberts.
Herman Samtseu Philip Mashaba is a South African politician, entrepreneur and the current president of ActionSA, a party he launched on 29 August 2020. He served as the Mayor of Johannesburg from 2016 to 2019. He is the founder of the hair product company Black Like Me. He is famous in South Africa for his background: he grew up struggling against poverty and the apartheid government to open his own hair business, which became the biggest hair brand in South Africa, making him a millionaire. He publicly backed Mmusi Maimane in the Democratic Alliance leadership race. He wrote the autobiography Black Like You and recently he wrote his new memoir "The accidental mayor". Mashaba is a libertarian and "capitalist crusader" whose highest value is "individual freedom."
The 2019 Johannesburg riots occurred in the South African city of Johannesburg from 1–5 September 2019, leading to the deaths of at least seven people. The riots were xenophobic in nature, targeting foreign nationals from other African countries. Retaliatory actions by rioters in other African nations was taken against South African brands. The South African Institute of Race Relations stated that the riots were similar in nature and origin to the 2008 xenophobic riots that also occurred in Johannesburg.
The Greenmarket Square refugee sit-in was a sit-in protest by a group of refugees for the purpose of getting relocated to a country outside of South Africa in response to xenophobia in the country. It lasted from 8 October 2019 when protestors first occupide the Waldorf Arcade to 2 April 2020 when the last group of protestors were evicted from the Central Methodist Mission church. The protestors demanded that UNHCR assist them with being relocated to a third country outside of South Africa and other than their country of origin. At its height the protest grew to include about 624 protestors, including 65 undocumented refugees, according to a lawyer for the South African Department of Home Affairs.
