The South African Human Rights Commission condemns the conduct of the police in dealing with Sylvia Manda. We find the criteria used to determine whether Sylvia Manda is a non-national or not, deplorable.

The Roll Back Xenophobia (RBX) Campaign an initiative of the South African Human Rights Commission, the National Consortium on Refugees Affairs and the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees was a response to findings that there were too many examples of physical abuse, arbitrary detention, and other human rights violations within the ranks of police officials and civil servants of non-nationals or suspected non-nationals.

The detention and assault of Sylvia Manda provides a glaring example that these abusive practices are continuing within the police service in South Africa.

In particular, their criteria for judging whether or not a person is a citizen, are highly questionable as it appears that one’s skin colour and dress sense serves as the basis for assessing ones legal status within South Africa. These criteria are reminiscent of the apartheid application of the Group Areas Act, implementation of which saw massive human rights violations in the past. A further question arises- what if Sylvia Manda had indeed been an undocumented migrant? Would the status of her documentation in South Africa justify her being subjected to that kind of brutality?

Fundamental to a human rights democracy is the application of basic constitutional principles as outlined in the Bill of Rights in South Africa’s constitution. These basic rights apply to all who find themselves within South Africa’s border- whether they are South African citizens or not. To uphold these basic tenets of our Constitution, it is essential that the police service acknowledge their crucial role in safeguarding the rights and safety of refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and South Africans.

The National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, indicated that he is not aware of xenophobia in the police service. There is indisputable evidence, from violations of migrant rights in Operation Crackdown in March 2000 to this case of Sylvia Manda, that the abusive treatment of non-nationals (and those suspected of being non-nationals) needs to be acknowledged as a matter of urgency within the police service.

The RBX Campaign and other partners are initiating a programme with the South African border police and the SAPS to address the issues of policing and safeguarding migrant communities in South Africa. Professional codes of conduct must be developed to ensure that violations of people’s rights based on their nationality, complexion, dress, facial features, hair texture, language and other physical features by the police are addressed. We welcome the active participation of the National Police Commissioner and other police-persons in this much-needed programme and call on the Police Commissioner to publicly condemn these ongoing practices of the SAPS.

Issued by: South African Human Rights Commission
12 March 2001
Enquiries: Phumla Mthala Tel: (011) 484-8300 Cell: 0832883339

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