Zimbabwean refugees beaten by South African police

Phyllis Chipangura knew from bitter experience what to do when she heard police battering down the bedroom door at the church mission near midnight. She quickly grabbed her pillow and stuffed it up her shirt. "Even in Zimbabwe, the police hesitate before they hit pregnant women," she said. Her ruse worked. As dozens of South African police piled into the tiny room she was sharing with about 30 other Zimbabwean refugees and eight children on the night of Jan. 30, they went first for the men. "They beat them and hit them and pushed them half-naked out of the room. They then turned to the women. First, they harassed, stole and even propositioned them and then ordered them out too. They told the pregnant women to remain behind. I am very happy," she beamed. Chipangura, 26, fled to South Africa from Zimbabwe a month ago and has had no opportunity to obtain the official asylum papers required by an estimated three million Zimbabwean refugees now seeking sanctuary in their neighboring country. "To get papers you have to go to Pretoria and queue for days. I can't afford the travel and it is dangerous out there," she said, gesturing at the street outside. Chipangura was doubly lucky. She had decided to spend the night with her married sister, Saruna, in a room at the Central Methodist Mission in central Johannesburg reserved for married couples. "If I had been downstairs in the single quarters they would have rounded me up," she said. Police raided the church refuge shortly after 11pm in an apparent attempt to clamp down on illegal immigrants blamed for a sudden crime surge. At least 1,500 people were detained and bussed off to police stations in an action reminiscent of the apartheid era that has outraged rights activists. The police said that they were looking for drugs and for firearms used in recent armed robberies. Thousands of Zimbabweans flee to South Africa each week but the flow has hit new peaks as inflation and food shortages in Zimbabwe break new records. Bishop Paul Verryn, a well-known anti-apartheid activist, accused the police of brutality and violating the sanctity of the church, which for four years has offered sanctuary to homeless Zimbabweans. "It is despicable what has happened here. The police used tactics which were totally inappropriate," he told The Times. Inside, in a Dickensian half-light, every single corner of every room in his mission is crammed with bodies huddled together for warmth and using each other's limbs for pillows. At least 500 others sleep on the road outside the mission hall each night. Many do not have the correct papers to stay and are often too frightened to venture far from the hostel for fear of being harassed by police or attacked by thugs who hang around outside looking for easy targets. Bishop Verryn said that the police burst into his office, grabbed him by the belt and pulled him down the stairs to where many of the refugees were gathered. "They said they were looking for illegal immigrants, drugs and weapons. If they had asked me first, I would have cooperated with them but they did not," he added. The Zimbabweans said that several hundred police stormed into the hostel, knocking down doors and grabbing what they could of people's possessions. "They were beating everyone and stealing what they could. I thought we were safe here but then I saw them manhandling the Bishop. This place is our last hope; we have nothing if we are driven from here as well," said Nosta Neshumba, a 21-year-old woman who has lived in the refuge for just over a year. It was not clear why the police decided to raid the center. A spokesman said only that hundreds of illegals had been detained but declined to give details or reply to allegations of police brutality. He said those without the right papers would be deported. Many of the deportees slip back over the border within hours of being repatriated. "We all know why they decided to attack. They do this to Zimbabweans from time to time. They just want to take from us and we are easy pickings," said Justin Mabuku, 39, a Zimbabwean school teacher who managed to obtain an official residency permit.