Living for home: policing immorality among undocumented migrants in Johannesburg

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes The research methods applied were participant observation, informal conversations, and group and individual interviews. In addition to about twenty‐five migrants, whom I have followed closely throughout the research, I have tested my findings in informal conversations with approximately sixty undocumented migrants, whom I knew peripherally. In the poor areas of Maputo, I heard this description of Johannesburg's reputation on several occasions. James Scott uses the term "nonstate space" to signify physical spaces that appear in remote rural areas, on frontiers and in areas of great cities where the state has ceded control (1998: 186–7). Although there are indications that particularly Hillbrow but also areas of the Johannesburg CBD constitute a form of physical nonstate space, the way I use the term here relates more to social than physical space, describing the ways in which undocumented migrants interact with, circumvent, and evade the state. In the debate about migration and xenophobia, anti‐immigrant vigilantes and beatings are often highlighted as central features (Harris 2001 Harris B 2001 "A Foreign Experience: Violence, Crime, and Xenophobia during South Africa's Transition" CSVR: Violence and Transition Series (5) www.csvr.org.za/paper/papvtp5.htm [Google Scholar]; Palmary 2002 Palmary I 2002 "Refugees, Safety and Xenophobia in South African Cities: The Role of Local Government" The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR). www.csvr.org.za/paper/papalm4.htm [Google Scholar]; Valji 2003 Valji N 2003 "Creating the Nation: The Rise of Violent Xenophobia in the New South Africa" The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR). www.csvr.org.za/paper/papnv1.htm [Google Scholar]). However, these issues do not dominate here. In the relationship between migrants and citizens, xenophobia is mostly more subtle and indirect, taking the form of mutual suspicion, exclusion and, to a lesser extent, exploitation. In relationship to the authorities, on the other hand, xenophobia is much more direct, as migrants constantly face exploitative and often violent police officers. See also Landau and Jacobsen (2004 Landau, LB and Jacobsen, K. 2004. "Refugees in the new Johannesburg". Forced Migration Review, 19: 44–46. [Google Scholar]: 45) for recent quantitative data on migrants' frequent experiences of police harassment in Johannesburg, or Palmary's (2002 Palmary I 2002 "Refugees, Safety and Xenophobia in South African Cities: The Role of Local Government" The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR). www.csvr.org.za/paper/papalm4.htm [Google Scholar]) and Harris' (2001 Harris B 2001 "A Foreign Experience: Violence, Crime, and Xenophobia during South Africa's Transition" CSVR: Violence and Transition Series (5) www.csvr.org.za/paper/papvtp5.htm [Google Scholar]) work on xenophobia within the South African Police Service. Twelve of the thirteen migrants who were deported during the six months of research returned to Johannesburg within less than two months. Some came back because they had left possessions behind. Most came back for the same reason they migrated illegally in the first place: to make a living. Personal conversation with Emma Ramokhele, March, 2003. Ramokhele of the NGO Lawyers For Human Rights' Refugee Rights Project monitors detentions at Lindela in co‐operation with SAHRC. The Detention Monitoring Project has been in operation since 2002 and conditions seem to have improved during this period. However, the Lindela management has denied LHR access to the facilities on several occasions, indicating that not all human rights issues have been resolved. "The summit" refers to the World Summit for Sustainable Development (Rio+10), held in Johannesburg in September 2002. Before the summit, a massive police operation appears to have been carried out in order to prepare the city for its prominent guests. This, at least, is what these undocumented migrants reasoned. If not, the people at home will think that they are not serious, that they are just "playing" in Johannesburg, as some of the migrants explained.