The South African government has ordered the closure of the Musina detention centre used for holding Zimbabwean illegal immigrants arrested in the country without proper documentation.

The recently appointed South African Minister of Home Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said that the centre violated human rights, because of the squalid conditions people were living under. She said since Zimbabweans no longer required visas to visit South Africa, the centre served no purpose.

“The removal of visas for Zimbabweans who wish to visit or work in the country necessitated the speedy closure of the centre as people now use proper channels of entering the country,” she said. Dlamini-Zuma also said the closure of Lindela repatriation centre, outside Johannesburg, was imminent.

“There is absolutely no reason for the Lindela centre to keep on operating, because it has served its purpose. We are now in a new era where no foreigner will be repatriated,” she said.

Dlamini-Zuma bemoaned the continuous arrest of foreigners, especially Zimbabweans, adding that her office had received reports that Home Affairs officials and police were asking for bribes from foreigners for their release, a situation which she said needed urgent attention. “I have noted with concern the continuous arrest of foreigners, with the majority of them being Zimbabweans, upon which police and officials from my ministry ask for bribes from them,” she said.

The closure of the Musina centre follows months of legal battles between the State and human rights lawyers, who argued that it was overcrowded and filthy. The lawyers argued that the fact that children and adults were cramped together was a clear breach of the Immigration Act.

The Zimbabwean and South African governments announced earlier this month the scrapping of visas for locals travelling to that country, which paved the way for free movement of people between the two countries.

Announcing the removal of visas, South-Africa’s former Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, said the decision was made in respect of the changing trends of human movement between the two countries.

Since the scrapping of visa requirements, the number of Zimbabwean entering the country through Beit Bridge border post has been on the increase.