Located just eighteen kilometres south of the border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe, the town of Musina has become host to a large population of newly-arrived migrants. These migrants are predominantly Zimbabwean, but there are also significant populations from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, and Malawi.
Fleeing the civil war that began in 1991, Somalis began migrating to a newly-democratic South Africa in the mid-1990s. Somalis who arrived in Cape Town initially worked as informal traders in the central business districts in and around the city. They soon moved into the city’s townships and began opening small grocery stores or spaza shops.
Despite recent attempts by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to improve service provision, the refugee and asylum system remains rife with problems.
JOHANNESBURG, 26 March 2012 (IRIN) - Can an international convention drafted 60 years ago to protect a limited number of Europeans uprooted by World War II continue to provide protection to the millions of people around the world today forced to flee their countries for a variety of reasons?
JOHANNESBURG, 2 August 2011 (IRIN) - Increasing numbers of Ethiopians and Somalis fleeing war, drought and poverty in their home countries face arrest, deportation and detention as they try to make their way to the south of the continent.
Report Highlights Refugee Rights Violations, Wasted Taxpayer Money, and Need for Immigration Reform
A report released today by the Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) at Wits University (“Protection and Pragmatism: Addressing Administrative Failures in South Africa’s Refugee Status Determination Decisions”) identifies se
