Caught in a vicious cycle

Submitted by Michael Tsingo

To think that I used to respect cops here!

Is it that South African police have been informed to be ruthless and unreasonable when dealing with Zimbabwean offenders? Watching SABC3’s Special Assignment on Tuesday March 11 2008, I was surprised at how cops peacefully rounded up Vaal University of Technology students.

For, before being a Zimbabwean, I am student at Wits University and I never thought that police brutality or rather their hatred for Zimbabweans would come my way until the night of Sunday March 9 2008.

It was at Edenvale police station in Johannesburg. As I was about to sign a form that advised me of my rights as an arrestee, the cop who had taken me in for being not in possession of my passport decided to clap me two fast and hard ones. While the stars went off, I cried out loud: “Why are you beating me?” To avoid drawing attention, the officer pushed me into a separate room where he continued his assault, as exhibited by the bruises on my hands. He kicked and punched. At this point I decided to speak my mind loud and clear.

“If you want to kill me for being Zimbabwean, f**k you a million times; and f**k you again and once more, I come from Bob’s country in every aspect of it and beating me cannot change that.”

I guess my words managed to wake up the other cops from their dreams of amazement or confusion. Two or three of them walked in, forcing my attacker to leave briskly. That was the last time I saw or heard of him. I was then whisked away and locked up in a cell with other 11 or so people, all but two of them Zimbabweans. The following morning, more Zimbabweans poured in; all of them had food in lunch boxes. They had been on their way to work.

The circumstances in which I find myself in South Africa are a bit different. During my second year of study at a university in Zimbabwe, I decided to get international experience during my third year, which, according to the curriculum of my first degree, should be dedicated to acquiring work experience. As such, in 2004 I joined Wits University’s Aids Research Institute where I worked as an unpaid intern. My work here involved writing for an HIV/Aids newsletter. I wrote South African stories. Stories of orphaned children, stories of child-headed families, stories promoting the use of ARVs, stories promoting the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, and stories encouraging students to go for VCT, among others. I even made friends. I still visit a child-headed household in Dube, Soweto. I felt like I was making a difference. I will not bore you on how my current master’s research can benefit the community of Alexandra.

Not all Zimbabweans come to South Africa to become criminals. Last month, e.tv aired a scene during the channel’s prime-time news in which an immigrant was being assaulted by a member of the SAPS. I have heard cops verbally insult Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Nigerians as “aliens” — thanks to the Daily Sun‘s noble education.

In January this year, as I was walking past cops at Park Station with a friend, one of them said: “Hey, Beitbridge! Hey you, Beitbridge, come here.” Just imagine a Zimbabwean cop calling a South African: “Hey you, Khutsong! Let’s see your passport.” Well, South Africans would never want to go north across Beitbridge anyway. What made me and my friend comply is not because both our names were “Beitbridge”; it was rather the fear of missing the bus to Zimbabwe. It is not that Zimbabweans are stupid when they comply with inhuman treatment; it is that they have a bigger cause than the R50 that cops need to spoil themselves at KFC.

South African cops need to divorce their hatred of Zimbabwean leaders or politics from immigrants who happen to be in South Africa for different reasons. Whereas their role should be to enforce the law and allow everyone to enjoy South Africa’s world-renowned democracy, they are performing at their very best when abusing Zimbabweans like me. Coming from the apartheid era, which was characterised by police brutality, among other things, it is sad that some members of the SAPS who were undergoing such torture still believe in such ideals.

What scares me more is that once you fail to bribe the cops in time, or rather the cops of colour, they turn furious with you and want to make sure that you are severely punished. Whether or not you are punished because you are an illegal immigrant without money remains a notorious mystery.

The question remains: Is there someone within the SAPS ranks who cares at all about the plight of Zimbabweans who are continuously robbed of their hard-earned cash, and who endure physical assault and intimidation?

And for the foreign and home affairs departments, the question is: Why are there still illegal Zimbabweans in South Africa when the asylum-seeker permits are meant for such people? Arresting Zimbabweans on a daily basis is far more expensive than granting them temporary refugee status so that they can do all the dirty work that locals avoid.

This leaves us with a vicious cycle in which Zimbabweans are burning from the belly and spine.

Michael Tsingo is a journalism student at Wits University. He also holds a BA degree in English and communications from Midlands State University in his country, Zimbabwe. He has worked as a writer for a number of organisations including Wits Aids Research Institute, Journalism.co.za, Our Youth for Life Magazine and Big Media