South Africa: Illegal Musina Detention Centre Ordered to Close

allAfrica.com: South Africa: Illegal Musina Detention Centre Ordered to Close

Alex Bell

20 May 2009

An illegal detention centre in the South African border town Musina is set to be permanently shut down, after a strongly worded judgment by the North Gauteng High Court in South Africa was handed down this week.

In February 2009, South Africa's Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) launched an urgent High Court application seeking the closure of the facility, citing the extreme unsanitary conditions of detention and the unlawful detention of refugees and young children. Most of the detainees were Zimbabweans seeking refuge in South Africa from the political and economic crises across the border. Children, many of whom made the journey to South Africa unaccompanied, were often arrested by police, military and immigration officials and detained and deported alongside adults, regardless of the devastating conditions from which they had fled.

The detention facility has been operational for more than two years, with an estimated 15 000 foreigners being detained and deported every month. The exiles were held in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions with no access to toilets, no medical facilities and inadequate food. LHR lawyers have described witnessing detainees being beaten with a green rubber hose, which they descibed as 'a punitive measure or a mechanism of crowd control.' LHR's Gina Snyman explained on Wednesday that these conditions were in 'stark violation of the minimum standards under international law, as well as the Immigration Regulations detailed by Home Affairs.'

The Court this week ruled that the detention centre and the conditions there were not only unlawful but also unconstitutional, and ordered the centre to be immediately closed. The Court also judged that the various government departments involved, namely the South African Police Service, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Social Development, had abdicated their responsibilities under the South African Constitution and violated the rights of the detainees being held at the centre.

The court also called the treatment of children at the facility 'startling,' and judged that they had been unlawfully treated by the police and Home Affairs, as well as ignored by the Department of Social Development, which failed to act despite being made aware of the presence of children at the centre. The Court cited an earlier High Court judgment which requires that all children must be cared for under the Constitution, no matter their immigration status.

"It is outrageous the amount of time and resources which have been devoted to defending this clear violation of human rights and degrading treatment of detainees," said Snyman. "In light of this judgment, we call on the new Minister of Home Affairs to revisit the policy of detentions, and to review the conditions of detention in all immigration and police facilities."

Meanwhile, South African authorities are investigating a possible Zimbabwean run criminal syndicate that preys on fellow Zimbabweans arriving in the country. It comes after 11 Zimbabweans, who were abducted at the Beitbridge border post, were found in a cramped, unsanitary flat in Johannesburg last week. The group, including three children, were promised jobs and cheap transport to Johannesburg by the criminal gang. Instead, they were locked up for more than a week with no food or toilets, and were held for ransom by their abductors. Three Zimbabwean men have been arrested in connection with the incident and are facing kidnapping and assault charges.