South African citizens languish in Harare prisons, convicted for drug dealing, or awaiting deportation

By IOL News

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission has confirmed that scores of South African nationals are languishing in Zimbabwe’s Harare Remand Prison, awaiting deportation, after they were arrested for breaching the country’s immigration laws.

Another group of three South African men are not facing deportation, but will face trial in Zimbabwe’s courts after they were charged for conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

On the other hand, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission has established that a South African woman has been convicted for dealing in dangerous drugs in Zimbabwe, and was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

In an interview, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Jessie Majome told IOL that by Thursday, she had established that there are six men, who have been certified to be South African nationals in conjunction with South Africa’s High Commission in Zimbabwe, who are ready for deportation from the Harare Remand Prison.

She said a seventh man in the group will not be deported to South Africa, as the diplomatic mission has informed Zimbabwe’s authorities that the elderly man is not a South African citizen.

“I had gone to the prison to visit a certain group of people who had been in custody for too long. I then noticed that there were 66 foreign nationals in the Harare Remand Prison for men,” she said.

“It is an issue that is of interest to the Commission because it involves a special category of people who should not be in prison; even though irregular immigration is against the law, they should not be treated like individuals awaiting trial.”

Majome said Zimbabwe does not have independent holding facilities for people arrested for violating the country’s immigration laws, and verifications happen while the people are detained in prison.

At the time of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission’s visit in April, it was established that there were about seven South African men, but Majome said the number has now risen because other South African nationals were found in the women’s section of Harare Remand Prison.