Refugees a target of police corruption in South Africa

This blog was sent to Sokwanele by a Zimbabwean refugee trying to survive in South Africa. It details the experiences that some foreigners have at the hands of the more corrupt members of the South African police force.

The Police in Johannesburg have introduced the stop and search operation which only sees it targeting foreigners. This is suppose to be a good move because it was introduced to offer safety for the Confederations Cup (soccer) that is underway and 2010 World Cup that is to be held next year but the police are abusing the move for their personal gains.

Everyday I move around because I am not working. It is difficult for some South Africans to get a job in their country, but more for us as foreigners. The law here in South Africa allows companies to give first preference to locals and later it may be given to foreigners. So to get employment is just like trying to match lotto numbers, very difficult.

One day when I was going to watch a match in Joubert Park where there is a big television screen for everybody to watch for free, it was Bafana Bafana playing against Iraq. Bafana Bafana is the name given to the South African football squad.

I met three guys, so they showed me their police cards and demanded to search me. Since they were police I accepted and they did their work very fast. When they finished, I think they wanted unlicensed guns because here in Johannesburg robbers carry guns. They asked me questions like where am I going, what is your name only to identify which language to speak. They know that most of those who speak Zulu here in Johannesburg chances are high to be Zimbabwean. I am very fluent in Zulu because Zulu and Ndebele are almost the same and I have spent seven years here in South Africa of which the two years I was in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.

I was then asked to produce identification; I did not have it because if you always carry the asylum it will be torn very fast because of the paper is not very strong. One of them asked me what am I saying and I knew he wanted money for bribe because I didn’t have my document at hand. I asked them to take me to the flat where I stay which was less than a kilometre away and they said cannot do that. They will rather arrest me and deport me in Zimbabwe.

I’m used to them and I know their tricks and know my rights. Those who do not know their rights became frightened, pay bribes and if they don’t they sometimes spend the whole day in the police car, others get beaten and cell phones taken by police. When they find out you really do not have the money they take you to the charge office and you will be charged with loitering.

I was taken inside the car and for four hours we were moving around and the car was full. Those with relatives who call and claim they have the money, the police will drive there to take the money. Those who bring the money they are not asked for identification I think because they are good ‘clients. They went around with us up until the match was finished at eight o’clock and now we were just two in the car and the police looked very happy, I think because they had money. People who pay bribes they pay amounts ranging from R200 to R300 for not having documentation and other criminal cases are higher depending on the case and how you talk to them.

We were about twenty and I believe the three policeman received R1 500 to R2 000 from us. They asked us separately where we stay and they just delivered us to our places. There my daughter was surprised about me. Before I went to watch the match I left her with her friends who stays with their Mum and it was time to sleep and they had to wait for me not knowing when I will come. They did not call me because they are also having no money at all.

Everyone who is not South African and having no proper documents and are scared to be deported back to their home country pay bribes and those with proper documents like asylum and permits are arrested and charged with loitering and released the next day. I understand some police know where the foreigners stay so every month end they come to collect the bribe. They say the bribe is called inhlalakahle a Zulu or Ndebele name meaning stay well. Those who pay inhlalakahle even if they are arrested in anywhere by other police they phone their own police to come to talk to the other police and they are released.

Article first published in Sokwanele.com