|
|
|
|
|
|
Home
|
|
Written by Alastair Mason
|
|
Tuesday, 15 July 2008 |
Funding ProposalThis is our draft proposal for general funding.
June, 2008
1 Contents
1 Contents 1
2 Executive Summary: 2
3 Historical Background: 2
3.1 Influx of immigrants/immigrants into South Africa 2
3.2 The response of the South African Government and the South African community 3
4 PASSOP, the Organization: 4
4.1 Mission statement and vision 5
4.2 Organisational structure 5
4.3 Activities and Achievements: 5
5 Future Projects 7
5.1 Refugee Services 7
5.2 The Anti-Corruption Team 8
5.3 Census Data Collection 9
6 Budget: 9
6.1 Motivation: 9
6.2 Proposed Annual Administrative Budget for 2008 10
6.3 Financial management: 10
7 Conclusion: 11
8 References 11
Appendix I 12
Appendix II – Protest flyer 28
Appendix III: Examples of press coverage: 29
October 2007 29
January 2008 29
June 2008 31
2 Executive Summary:
PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty) is a community based, grass roots organization devoted to fighting for the rights of asylum seekers, immigrants and immigrants in Cape Town, South Africa. It is unique in that it is an advocacy and activist organisation that draws the bulk of its members from the refugee community. At present the organisation relies on support from friends and well wishers and has a very small budget. In order to function more effectively and to undertake the many future projects planned: an Anti-Corruption Team, a Masiphumelele Data Collection Census, and many Refugee Services, PASSOP is requesting R400 000 ($50 000) to maintain and continue its work. This will allow for the employment of an Executive Office, an Admintrative Assistant and the rental of office space.
3 Historical Background:
3.1 Influx of immigrants/immigrants into South Africa
Over the last few years there has been an influx of immigrants into South Africa from countries in Southern Africa, particularly from Zimbabwe. The actual number of undocumented Zimbabwean individuals living in South Africa is unknown; estimates range from 1 to 5 million. The United Nations High Commissioner for Immigrants (UNHCR) has stated “there is clearly a humanitarian crisis when so many people feel compelled to leave their country.”1
The political and economic crises in Zimbabwe are worsening at a shocking rate. In 2005, the government-sponsored “Operation Murambatsvina” was implemented to clear urban slums, thereby depriving more than 18 percent of the population of homes or livelihoods and badly damaging Zimbabwe’s informal job sector. Since then, official inflation has risen to over 100,000 percent. According to the International Crisis Group: unemployment is over 85 percent, poverty over 90 percent, over four million persons are in desperate need of food, and thousands are dying every month from malnutrition and HIV/AIDS.2 UNICEF and the WHO both claim that the average life expectancy is now the worst in all of Africa; in 1990, the life expectancy of a Zimbabwean was 60 years, now the life expectancy has plummeted to 37.3
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has only recently ceased fighting the Second Congo War, a war waged within the DRC from 1998 to 2003. This was the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II, where as many as five million people died. Fighting continues in the eastern part of this country to this day.5 The United Nations claims that as many as 1,000 people a day are still dying as a result of the conflict. Women have an especially difficult life in the DRC, suffering from “unimaginable brutality that goes far beyond rape,” according to UN officials. It is not uncommon for women to be gang rape, “often in front of their families and communities. In numerous cases, male relatives are forced at gun point to rape their own daughters, mothers and sisters.”6 The DRC is not the only country suffering from violence and great human rights’ atrocities.
Somalia is another country with a history steeped in violence, which continues to create immigrants to this day. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called the current situation in Somalia, “dire.” They’ve called on the UN Human Rights Council to draw more attention to the human rights “crisis” occurring in Somalia.7 Somali civilians have been terrorized by targeted and indiscriminate attacks, enforced disappearances and mass arbitrary arrests. Violence, fear and threats of violence continue in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Since December 2006, an estimated 400,000 people have been displaced from Mogadishu due to the ongoing violence.7
All immigrants and asylum seekers have left their countries for South Africa for two main reasons: they fear for their lives or they are driven by destitution to seek a life free of starvation.
3.2 The response of the South African Government and the South African community
Upon entering South Africa, every immigrant has the legal right to apply for refugee status by reporting to the Department of Home Affairs within 14 days of arriving in the country. Until they have placed their application, immigrants are illegal and can be deported at any time. The renewable temporary papers issued to all asylum seekers by the government mean they can remain in South Africa legally for 6 months, while awaiting an official decision.
The government of South Africa has neglected its legal responsibility to process asylum seeker applications. They are unable or unwilling to process applicants in a timely manner. The South African government has over 140,000 applications still awaiting decisions; this is just the official government backlog figure. This figure does not represent the actual number of immigrants in the country who are attempting to put in their applications. Furthermore, thousands of immigrants continue to cross the border into South Africa every day, increasing the actual number of applications that need to be processed.8
While immigrants are waiting, trying to fulfil their legal application and put in their application for official status to legally live in South Africa, the conditions they are forced to live in while waiting in the queue in Cape Town are dreadful. Some immigrants are forced to wait more than 4 weeks, just to put in their application. During this time, they must live and sleep outside the Refugee Centre, with no protection from the elements, so they do not lose their place in the queue. Immigrants can be arrested and deported if they leave this designated area at any time during the process, even if they leave to go in search of food. Conditions are so deplorable, in fact that last year one refugee, Adonis Musati, died of starvation while waiting in the queue.
Regardless of their documentation status, all persons within South Africa are guaranteed basic human rights, according to the South African Constitution. The Bill of Rights entrenches the rights of “everyone” in South Africa to: equality before the law, human dignity, personal freedom and security, privacy, due process of law, freedom of expression and association, fair labour practices, adequate housing, health care, sufficient food and water and social security.4 In practice, however, they are often completely neglected by the state.
In May/June 2008, the situation for immigrants became even more dire, with the outbreak of xenophobic attacks throughout South Africa. The Western Cape was not immune to these attacks and more than approximately 20 000 immigrants were forced to flee their homes to take up temporary shelter provided by local government and civil society. At present (June, 2008), 5 000 immigrants have returned home to the townships, but many more remain in temporary camps. Many have also opted to return to their home countries, despite the fact that the problems which forced them to leave their homes initially have not been resolved.
The lessons learned from the attacks were two-fold. There is an on-going need to educate and work with township dwellers to understand the plight of the immigrants and prevent such violent outbreaks in the future. Secondly there is a tremendous amount of goodwill amongst civil society which can be tapped to the advantage of the immigrants.
4 PASSOP, the Organization:
PASSOP was founded by a group of Zimbabweans and spearheaded by Braam Hanekom in 2007 as an organization that would be a “voice for the voiceless.” It was funded and supported by volunteers. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty) is a community based NGO that advocates for refugee and immigrant rights. By identifying and exposing corruption within the Home Affairs Department, PASSOP has greatly increased the number of asylum seekers being served each day (from around 20 before the creation of PASSOP to now over 200). Through protest action, PASSOP has brought the issues of corruption and xenophobia to the public eye. In 2008, PASSOP has many future projects planned but needs funding to accomplish these specific initiatives and for its initial administrative necessities .
Above all, PASSOP is an organization about people— a voice for the voiceless. It takes courage to be a refugee, to leave behind your family, friends, home and life and enter a new country with no knowledge of your rights. As the UNHCR explains, “The number of people willing to cross the dangerous waters of the Limpopo-the rainy season that is just beginning increases the threat of crodiles—indicates the depth of the problem facing Zimbabweans.“
Individuals do not become immigrants out of choice, they are forced to do so out of necessity. The right to a life without fear of police brutality and xenophobia is a human right.
4.1 Mission statement and vision
Immigrants have come together within PASSOP in order to speak out about the conditions which they left behind and the conditions in which they now live in South Africa. PASSOP works closely with community leaders in the Zimbabwean, Congolese and Somali community structures to address issues, concerns and problems facing immigrants and immigrants within Cape Town. PASSOP is also working with students, and has established a student organization at the University of Cape Town- UCT PASSOP. Together, we believe that we have an opportunity to influence South Africa on issues relating to immigrant populations. We have in common the dreams shared by many oppressed – those of freedom, of peace, of freedom of expression and most importantly those of equality.
PASSOP maintains that definitions of immigrants and asylum seekers need to be reformulated to take into account breadline immigrants. The situation in Zimbabwe, e.g., is so appalling that people must choose between leaving their homes in search of a means of survival and remaining at home to starve. The economic condition in Zimbabwe is so extreme it constitutes a humanitarian crisis. People in Zimbabwe are so destitute that many are below the breadline, meaning they cannot even afford basic food and are therefore driven out of their own country, seeking subsistence survival in South Africa and other Southern Africa nations. PASSOP wants to make the South African public aware of the lack of choice people have in their decisions to cross the border. PASSOP is against all xenophobic attacks on immigrants and maintains that the right to freedom and dignity is one of all persons residing in South Africa, whether here legally or illegally.
4.2 Organisational structure
It is registered as a voluntary association, has a constitution (See Appendix I) and a bank account.
The organisation is managed by a Working Committee of ten people, including a Chairperson and a Treasurer. The members of the Organisation elect the members of the Working Committee at the Annual General Meeting. The Working Committee is empowered to employ an Executive Officer to manage the affairs of the Organisation if deemed necessary.
4.3 Activities and Achievements:
The founding members have worked hard to build up a network of immigrants with structures in the Masiphumelele, De Noon, Khayelitsha, Phillipi and Gugulethu in Cape Town and Diepsloot in Johannesburg. A present there are 500 members who can be called upon to assist in the activities of the organisation. Because of this large support base, PASSOP is regarded as a credible and authentic representative voice of immigrants in the Western Cape. This is evidenced by the regular press coverage given to statements made by the organisation and the representation of the members on most of the crisis committees called by local government and civil society during the recent xenophobia crisis.
Specific activities are listed below:
Inefficiency and corruption at the Cape Town Home Affairs Office: PASSOP has held several protests which have led to a substantial increase in the number of applications processed by Cape Town’s Department of Home Affairs.2 As mentioned above, the number of applicants processed daily rose from 20 to 200 as a direct result of the PASSOP held public protests.
Improvement of conditions of immigrants awaiting processing of documents:
a. PASSOP has successfully lobbied for clean water taps, bins and portable toilets to be placed at Cape Town’s Refugee Centre (where between 600 and 1,000 people live and sleep outside on any given day while waiting in the queue to put in their asylum application).
b. Before PASSOP began its protest action, the situation at the Refugee Centre was so bad that Adonis Musati starved to death while waiting in the queue. PASSOP then launched the Adonis Musati project, which feeds several hundred people every week; it is now an independent project which we support. PASSOP continues to organize public protests about the living conditions of immigrants in South Africa and the oppression and human rights violations of the families and people left behind by immigrants.
c. PASSOP raised funds to repatriate the body of Adonis Musati to Zimbabwe and hosted his family when they came to take him home.
Raising of public awareness and advocacy
d. PASSOP has made numerous public statements and is often quoted in the press, both locally and elsewhere. A Google News search on 8 June displayed 9 hits for PASSOP in the last three weeks alone and about 40 since the start of activities in August 2007.
e. The establishment of a branch of PASSOP at the University of Cape Town.
f. A regular PASSOP column appears weekly in the weekly Zimbabwe Newspaper, the Zimbabwean which is distributed in the UK, South Africa and Zimbabwe and has a distribution of 190 000 copies weekly. PASSOP has an arrangement to distribute the unsold copies of the Zimbabwean to immigrants awaiting document processing.
Representation and net-working: Members of PASSOP were involved in consultation in the following ways:
g. PASSOP has organised joint activities with the Treatment Action Campaign and COSATU and ILRIG
h. PASSOP is a founding member of the Western Cape Emergency Civil Society Task Team which was established in May 2008 to respond to the xenophobia which was sweeping the country (See Appendix IV)
i. Member of Safety Forum of the Western Cape which was established by the Western Cape Commissioner of Police and has ten members of which three are from civil society, one from Disaster Management, one from City of Cape Town, one from the religious sector, one from National Intelligence Agency, the Police Commissioner, and one from the Premier’s Office and one from the Department of Immigration.
j. Represented on the Social Movement Indaba, a network of social movements in the Western Cape.
k. Consulted by the Refugee Protection Researcher, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Leila Shifteh
Several international interns have worked for PASSOP, for periods of time ranging form a few weeks to six months.
5 Future Projects
The above has been achieved entirely through the actions of volunteers. If futher resources were made available, all of the above activities could be carried out more effectively and expanded. Future projects which are planned, pending the availability of funding are:
5.1 Refugee Services
Immigrants and asylum seekers come to Cape Town with no idea of their legal, medical, or human rights in South Africa. It is common for immigrants to be exploited by their employers, refused medical treatment at hospitals and illegally arrested by the police.
PASSOP plans to:
Provide information brochures to thousands of immigrants informing them of their: rights to medical care, legal counsel, education, employment information and legal aid. These brochures will include information about what to do if you are arrested, denied medical assistance, are experiencing employer exploitation, etc. PASSOP will provide support to immigrants who report any problems listed above.
Help immigrants and asylum seekers make and print their CVs, thereby increasing their opportunities for legal employment.
Aid in the repatriation of deceased Zimbabweans back to Zimbabwe. This is very important in Zimbabwean culture; this act both aids PASSOP in its cultural connections within the established Zimbabwean refugee community thereby strengthening its connections within these community structures and demonstrates a deep respect and understanding tfor Zimbabwean culture and practices.
Continue to hold Public Awareness Protests and Rallies, thus keeping the general public informed and aware of the abuses and difficulties immigrants face while bringing the issues of xenophobia and refugee rights to the forefront of the public discourse.
PASSOP will act as a liason betweeen immigrants who have had legal problems (whether related to police brutatilty, medical care, job exploitation or otherwise) to help find them legal counsel if they need representation. In addition, PASSOP will keep a database of every incident presented to them by immigrants. We will then use this information to educate the media and the general public about the difficulties and challenges immigrants face within South Africa. We will also use this information to pressure the government to increase their services for immigrants and increase the total number of applications processed.
PASSOP will have on office where immigrants can come with problems and concerns and find help and information. This office will also serve as a place to host meetings and conferences. We will set-up a refugee hotline, a number for immigrants to call for employment, legal and medical information, and to report incidents of corruption, employment exploitation and unlawful arrests.
5.2 The Anti-Corruption Team
PASSOP, working with the support of other organizations, is forming an Anti-Corruption Team that will monitor and report corruption at the Refugee Centre in Cape Town. Corrupt officials were taking bribes and putting immigrants who paid them in front of the immigrants waiting in the queue. This was commonplace until recently but there is still a need to monitor and report incidents, a function the department has failed to do. Through the formation of this team, we intended to prevent the return of rampant corruption practices, which harm the poor.
This team, which is in the process of formation, will have six main goals:
Assess the current rate of corruption
2. Document these corruption instances
3. Highlight the harm of such corruption
4. Follow and monitor investigations and make sure that action be taken against corrupt officials
5. Publicly appeal for information leading to their prosecution offering to reimburse their money (this would come to a maximum of R4000)
6. Ultimately, to prevent corruption at the centres.
There will be a paid individual on the ground at the Refugee Centre, Monday through Friday, monitoring the work done by the Department of Home Affairs. He will be recording all aspects of the situation at the centre in the morning including: possible incidents of corruption, the number of immigrants in the queues, how many immigrants are taken from each country, government agencies present and force used by the police.
We will be organizing volunteers to come every morning and take down an accurate list of the names of all the individuals waiting in the queue. These daily lists can then be used to help prevent immigrants trying to fulfil their legal obligations from being wrongfully deported.
Additionally, we will be asking individuals who have used bribery to pay for their papers to come forward and report the corrupt officials who accepted bribes. We will reimburse any refugee who comes forward to report instances of corruption if their allegations lead to a conviction of any individual within the Department of Home Affairs. 3
5.3 Census Data Collection
(Note that funding of this activity is not included in this funding application and still needs to be sourced)
Zimbabweans are an invisible population within South Africa—undocumented, they exist scattered and hidden beneath the legal radar of the South African government. Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, has stated that the influx of immigrants from Zimbabwe was a "serious problem."3 However, the government of South Africa has not attempted to find out the actual number of undocumented persons within its own country.
In fact, estimates on the number of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers living within South Africa varies greatly, from one to five million. Within Cape Town there are no relevant estimates concerning the actual number of immigrants. There have been no extensive studies to find out the number of documented and/or undocumented people from Zimbabwe. This lack of basic information is a huge obstacle.
According to the Immigrants International, “provision of humanitarian assistance is severely hampered by the undocumented status of the majority of Zimbabweans.”1 PASSOP hopes to help remedy this by obtaining an accurate estimate count of the number of immigrants living in Cape Town.
We will work within the established community structures, using community elder approved volunteers to go door-to-door to collect information about the number of Zimbabwean immigrants living in several townships. Zimbabweans tend to live together within townships in Cape Town. The Zimbabwean immigrants are very well organized in this township and have worked closely with PASSOP on past protests, data gathering and repatriation activities. These Zimbabwean volunteers will be provided with forms, formal census-gathering training, a volunteer t-shirt and a small stipend. They will collect basic information on Zimbabwean immigrants living within their own townships. This information will be used to create a database about Zimbabwean immigrants in Cape Town and will help PASSOP demonstrate the need for more services to be allocated to immigrants and more applications to be processed daily by the Department of Home Affairs.4
6 Budget:
6.1 Motivation:
The activities and role of PASSOP continue to grow. It is no longer possible to sustain these activities in the absence of resources. The chairperson, Braam Hanekom, has had to devote himself full time to these activities and has no source of income. The adminstrative responbilities will become more and more onerous as PASSOP extends support to an ever increasing number of immigrants. At present all the work is done in private homes and this will also become unsustainable. The budget presented below will allow for one full time Executive Officer and a part-time adminstrator, In addition, office rental and supplies are requested. The office will serve as a focus for the work of PASSOP. It will be a place to host meetings and conferences, to which immigrants can come with problems and seek for help and advice. The establishment of a manned office will also allow for the development of a refugee hotline to call for information, to report incidents, get information etc.
6.2 Financial management:
The Constitution states:
´The Working Committee shall ensure that the Association keeps proper records and books of account which fairly reflect the affairs of the Association. All major financial decisions and expenditures must be approved by four persons—2 members of the Working Committee (the treasurer and one other member other than the Chairperson) and 2 members of the Advisory Board before they can occur. The entire Working Committee must be informed of these financial decisions during meetings. The Treasurer shall ensure that full and proper accounts are kept in respect of all the organization’s transactions involving the receipt and expenditure of money and the acquisition of property.´
In addition the Constitution empowers the Working Committee to appoint a Chief Executive and other officers and employees as it may consider necessary from time to time upon such terms and conditions as it may consider appropriate.
The financial books will be audited by a registered auditor at the end of the financial year. If for any reason, a decisision is made to disband the organisation, all remaining funds will be returned to the funder.
6.3 Proposed Annual Administrative Budget for 2008
| Line-items | Item | Costing | Total | | Salaries | Salary of the executive office | R8000 per month x 12 months | 96000 |
| Secretary | R4000 per month x 12 months | 48000
| | Office equipment | Office rental
| R4000 per month x 12 months | 48000
| | | Office set up cost | Computer and printer/scanner | 20000 | | | Fax machine
| | 5000 | | Running costs | Stationery
| Office supplies x12 months | 10000
| | | Phone bills (for volunteers and organisation), including internet connection | R2000 x 12 months
| 24000 | | | Electricity | R200 x 12 months
| 2400 | | Activity funding | Meeting costs (Travel costs for conferences and meetings) | R2000 per months | 24000
| | | Transport costs (for volunteers and activitists) | 5 trips to townships x 50km x 50 weeks x R2 | 25000 | | | Funding of protest activities | T-shirts, banners, posters, advertisements, etc | 50000 | | | Auditing
| Auditing of books and monitoring of financial management | 10000 | Contingencies
| | | 37600 | | Total | | | 400000 |
7 Conclusion:
PASSOP has achieved a considerable amount in the first nine months of it’s existence. There is a clear and pressing need for the voice of the immigrants to be heard and for support to be given to their endeavours to carve out a new life for themselves in South Africa. PASSOP has established it’s credibility amongst immigrants, civil society and local government. If the activities of the organisation are to continue and to grow, the organisation requires financial suppot. Without this support, it is unlikely that the Organisation can remain viable and it may have to disband within the near future.
8 References
Duplat, Patrick and Sean Garcia. “Zimbabwe Exodus: Key Facts on Humanitarian Assistance.” Immigrants International. November 7, 2007. Online: http://www.refintl.org/content/article/detail/10282
“Zimbabwe Country Report.” International Crisis Group. March 17, 2008. Online: http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=1233&l=1
Hawker, Dianne, Zama Feni Siyuville Mangxamba and Murray Williams. “Zim Immigrants Pour Into SA.” The Cape Argus. April 4, 2007. Online: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=vn20070404112133660C519174
Kriger, Norma. “Keep Your Head Down: Unprotected Immigrants in South Africa.” Human Rights Watch, Volume 19, No. 3 (A). February 2007.
“The Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Wikipedia. Online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo
RTE News. “UN: Violence in Congo Goes Beyond Rape.” Monday, July 30, 2007. Online: http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0730/rape.html
Human Rights Watch. “UN Should Tackle Human Rights Crisis” March 3, 2008. Online: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/03/03/somali18201.htm
Redden, Jack. “Determined Zimbabweans Flow Into South Africa.” UNHCR News Stories. October 9, 2007. Online: http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/470b8baf4.html
McGreal, Chris. “The Wasteland: Inside Mugabe’s Crumbling State.” The Guardian. Saturday, March 17, 2007. Online: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/17/topstories3.zimbabwe
“South Africa Admits Refugee Crisis.“ News24.com. Online: http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_2158024,00.html
South African Broadcasting Corporation. “Five million Zimbabwean immigrants in SADC region.” March 17, 2008. Online: http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,2172,166001,00.html |
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 July 2008 )
|
|
|
Who's Online
We have 1 guest online
|