Informal settlements are havens for immigrants

December and January are known to be busy and profitable months for smugglers of illegal immigrants.

With an estimated 5 000 illegal immigrants being brought in from neighbouring SADC countries into South Africa every month, it is a lucrative, multi-million-Rand market.

In the past decade, human smuggling has expanded to include children, who until recently were not regarded as “high risk” by smugglers. But following the increase in the number of children smuggled across borders as they travel with bogus parents, guardians or even family members, South Africa and several other countries have tightened their laws pertaining to the immigration of children.

Illegal immigration is often facilitated by heartless regional border officials who prefer to turn a blind eye in exchange for a bribe.

Kathorus MAIL approached several reliable but reluctant sources with links to the regional cross-border taxi industry. A few among them claimed to travel regularly between South Africa and the neighbouring SADC countries of Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. They all confirmed that December and January are the months in which large numbers of people, especially women and children, are smuggled into different countries in the region, including South Africa.

Asked to explain, one of the sources said: “People who are involved in illegal immigration have money to pay bribes. Corrupt border officials know this, and both parties are willing to make a deal.”

In the past, Lesotho and Swaziland were identified as the only two countries with the most number of citizens being smuggled into South Africa. But with the advent of democracy and the fall of apartheid, travel restrictions have eased, and the list of countries with people being brought illegally into South Africa has grown tremendously. Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe top the list.

In two instances in 2016, two vehicles loaded with children and young women from Malawi and Mozambique were both intercepted by South African law enforcement officers in different sections around Rustenburg.

In the first incident, reported in July 2016, 57 Malawian children aged between 11 and 21 were found packed inside the back of an enclosed delivery vehicle in Rustenburg. Both the Malawian driver and his assistant were later arrested and charged with human trafficking after they admitted that their human cargo had entered South African from Malawi without valid travel documents.

Two months later, on September 16, another enclosed truck, this time transporting 87 children, also from Malawi, was intercepted by police in another part of the Rustenburg CBD. When the driver was instructed to open the back of the truck, police found 18 young girls and 39 boys. The van was equipped with a makeshift window to allow in fresh air.

Many of the victims, especially women and children, often end up in homes in Gauteng, North West, KZN, or sometimes as far away as the Western Cape, where they are sold as domestic servants and farm labourers. Worse still, some of the women end up working for prostitution syndicates, while children are given to childless couples for a “fee”.

Many of those who slip through the nets of the smugglers resurface in informal settlements around South Africa. Kathorus and other parts of Ekurhuleni are often the gateways through which they can move into the various informal human settlements, where they melt into the local communities.

Vhumbeni Primary School in Mokoena Section Katlehong and Chivirikani Primary in Siluma View absorb most of the children of these illegal immigrants from the nearby informal settlements. One of the main challenges they face is that they can’t turn children away from school, but at the same time the children have to be formally registered at the school. However, this is not possible without proper immigration documents.

Both Vhumbeni Primary and its xhi-Tsonga sister school, Chivirikani Primary, have since opened their gates to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The schools’ teachers and the Department of Foreign Affairs immigration officials meet regularly at the schools to interact with the predominantly Mozambican parents and clarify their immigration problems.

Proof that many of the children who are illegal in South Africa, are actually smuggled across the country’s borders by their own parents, families and relatives who are in search of a better quality of life, education and opportunities in South Africa.