Twenty years ago, *Fungai Nyirenda (53) from Murehwa District in Zimbabwe, illegally crossed into South Africa looking for a job. Without a residence permit, Nyirenda had to quickly legalise her status to land a job. She bought one.
“There was no way I could claim to be a local. I needed a document,” said Fungai explaining how she met a man outside the South African Home Affairs offices in Marabastad who said he could organise an asylum document for her. A deal was done.
She paid the man R1 000 and within a day she had a ‘document’ and was good to go job hunting as an asylum seeker. Months later, Fungai produced her document after police confronted her. She was told her document was a fake.
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She continues to use that fake document today and has got a job as a maid. “I realised what had happened. It was after that experience when I was told by others that without entering the Home Affairs office there is no way of getting a legitimate document,”Fungai said.
“That I don’t have legitimate papers is a big challenge. I have stayed in this job using the fake asylum document. I can’t move to any other job.” The desire to be a legal resident in South Africa is a booming black-market business.
African nationals are paying up to R45 000 (USD2 600) a pop to obtain fake residence permits. As a result, desperate immigrants, especially Zimbabweans, are exploited. Most people who have fallen victim to the fake documents trade said their desire was to live in peace without fear of the police and to be able to get a proper, well-paying job.
*Elias Dube, (41) from Plumtree, said he has fallen victim. He paid for a fake permit he used for two years without travelling outside South Africa. “This time when I travelled to Zimbabwe, border officials told me my permit was fake and threatened to destroy my passport.
While I got my passport back I was banned from entering South Africa for some time.” During that time, Elias travelled and lived as an illegal immigrant in South Africa. “I managed my way around but I lost out on the chance to apply for the Zimbabwe special dispensation permits because I did not have a passport,” he said.
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