Metro

Operation Dudula hits Durban: Anti-migrants campaigns intensify in South Africa

Published

1 year ago

April 10, 2022

Activities of the anti-migrants group, Operation Dudula have hit a new height as protesters marched through the streets of Durban demanding that the government take strong action to deal with high numbers of illegal immigrants.

Controversial groups, the Alexandra Dudula Movement and Operation Dudula, last month, started campaigns against undocumented foreign nationals and the campaigns have been supported by South African communities who feel marginalized.

The National Secretary of Operation Dudula, Zandile Dabula said “the issues are that people are coming into the country and they are not documented and the government is doing nothing about it, and it’s difficult to find them when they commit a crime. We just need our departments to actually enforce the laws that are there, because these laws are not enforced.”

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.

The Deputy Chairperson of the movement, Dan Radebe, revealed that the protest moved to Durban because it houses the busiest harbour in the Southern African Development Community.

“That is the very same harbour they are using as the point of entry for all the fake goods that have flooded our country, killing our textile industry which then affects the unemployment rate as well.” Radebe added.

The recent rise in anti-immigrant campaigns in South Africa has left immigrants and refugees fearing for their safety. Understandably because of a history of Xenophobic attacks in South Africa, however, Operation Dudula thinks otherwise.

“I don’t understand why we should be called xenophobic because all we are asking is that people need to be documented when they come to this country. It’s done in other countries but people are not called xenophobic, but why are we being called xenophobic when South Africans are doing it?”

The United Nations International Organization for Migration, says 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.

Related Topics:Featured immigrant Operation Dudula South Africa

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Metro

South Africa slams 54 fraud, immigration charges on Rwandan genocide suspect

Published

20 hours ago

June 9, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

One of the most wanted Rwandan Genocide suspects, Fulgence Kayishema has been slammed with a 54-count charge by South African prosecutors, including fraud and immigration charges.

Kayishema, an ex-Rwandan police officer who is wanted internationally over his alleged role in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, was arraigned at a Cape Town court on Friday.

After being on the run for over two decades, Kayishema was arrested on May 24 on a grape farm in South Africa where he had been hiding under a false name, according to a prosecutor, who said refugees working in the farm gave him up.

Spokesperson of the South African prosecutors, Eric Ntabazalila, who addressed a press conference outside the court, said the fugitive now faced 54 separate charges relating to fraud and immigration offences, up from five previously preferred against him.

“Kayishema had been a fugitive from justice since 2001, when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) indicted him for genocide for allegedly ordering the massacre of 2,000 people hiding in the Nyange Catholic Church,” Ntabazalila told journalists.

Some of the charges could see Kayishema imprisoned for up to 15 years, said Ntabazalila.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) also allege that Kayishema used a false identity to apply for asylum and refugee status in South Africa.

The case was adjourned to June 20 to allow Kayishema’s defence team to consult, at which point he could apply for bail, while he is also expected to face extradition to Rwanda to be tried over the ICTR genocide indictment.

With Kayishema’s arrest, there are only three indicted fugitives still on the run after a sweeping indictment by the international tribunal.

Metro

US, WFP, USAID suspend food aid to Ethiopia

Published

20 hours ago

June 9, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

The United States along with the World Food Program (WFP) and the USAID have suspended food aid to Ethiopia following allegations of theft and diversion by government officials.

The WFP and the USAID announced the suspension on Friday, a day after the US government announced that it was suspending the programme due to the same reasons.

WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain, who made the announcement early on Friday, said the suspension was temporary, until a full investigation was conducted by the Ethiopian government.

“We will temporarily cease food aid in Ethiopia, but nutritional assistance to children, pregnant and lactating women, school meals programs and activities to strengthen farmers and herders in the face of external shocks will continue without interruption,” McCain said in a press release.

“Diversion of food is absolutely unacceptable. The Ethiopian government’s commitment to investigate and hold those responsible accountable is welcomed.

“WFP is working closely with its UN partners, humanitarian organizations and local actors to reform the way aid is distributed across Ethiopia,” she added.

On Thursday, the US government’s international aid agency, USAID, had announced the suspension of its food aid to Ethiopia, while denouncing a “widespread and coordinated operation to divert.”

“USAID intends to immediately resume food aid as soon as we have confidence in the integrity of the distribution systems to get aid to its intended recipients,” the agency had said.

In a joint statement with the USAID, Ethiopian authorities assured that a joint investigation was underway “so that the perpetrators of these hijackings are accountable.”

According to the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), more than 20 million people of the 120 million Ethiopian population, about 16%, depend on food aid due to conflicts or recurring drought in the region which has also displaced 4.6 million people in the country.