JOHANNESBURG - South Africa, which receives more individual asylum requests than any other country, said Thursday it is taking steps to cope with the influx.
The immigration department said in a statement that it faces an “immense challenge’’ and is extending hours at offices across the country that accept asylum applications from people who have traveled from as far away as Pakistan. Mkuseli Apleni, the department’s top bureaucrat, also said police will help manage lines at the offices, where stampedes have erupted.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees welcomed the moves. The agency’s spokeswoman for southern Africa, Tina Ghelli, said her agency fears that people fleeing oppression and violence are finding it difficult to get help because economic immigrants are abusing and overwhelming South Africa’s system.
According to the agency’s figures, more than 100,000 people sought asylum in South Africa last year. That was well above the next-highest number of applications received, about 74,000 in the United States.
Kenya has more refugees, with more than 460,000 Somalis, according to the UN agency. But Kenya welcomes Somalis as a class, rather than requiring each to apply for asylum, because of decades of violence and anarchy in Somalia.
Somalis make up the second-largest group of asylum seekers in South Africa, according to the UN. In South Africa, they are not kept in refugee camps and can work and receive state welfare benefits.
Most asylum applications are from Zimbabwe, a neighboring country gripped by political unrest and economic woes. Congolese, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis also apply, the UN agency said.
Xenophobic attitudes led to an explosion of violence in 2008 against foreigners, particularly those from elsewhere in Africa, in some of South Africa’s poorest communities.
Despite a possibly cold welcome and bureaucratic delays, asylum seekers “still keep coming. I think it’s just the possibility of a better life,’’ Ghelli said.
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"35,000 to be freed from crowded jails
JOHANNESBURG - South African authorities plan to release up to 35,000 offenders to ease overcrowding in the nation’s prisons. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said Saturday that some 14,600 prison inmates will be freed, along with more than 20,000 offenders on probation or parole who qualify to have sentences cut (AP)."
And who makes all our lives better?
"South African court approves Walmart deal" by Donna Bryson | Associated Press, March 10, 2012
South African unions and some government officials fear Walmart’s arrival will hurt jobs and local manufacturing. Walmart and Massmart argue that together they can offer low prices and a range of goods that will benefit South African consumers.
The appeals court said Friday that “there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the detrimental effects of the merger would outweigh the clear benefits.’’
Potential investors had said they were closely watching for the ruling, which could signal South African openness to foreign investment....
Walmart is entering Africa for the first time with the Massmart deal, and hopes to exploit Massmart’s experience in South Africa and further north as a stepping stone to doing business across Africa....
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"Late senator honored for antiapartheid efforts
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa is bestowing posthumous presidential honors on Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who died of brain cancer in 2009.
In an announcement Monday, the office of South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma called Kennedy “a tireless campaigner for the introduction of sanctions against the apartheid regime.’’
Not when it came to Israel.
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Related: South Africa to honor late Senator Ted Kennedy
Also see: South Africa Still the Same
He never did measure up to his brothers, and I suppose one can see why.
