South African police still harassing foreigners.

Foreign nationals in Pretoria say they are caught between a rock and a hard place – on the one hand they fear xenophobic attacks, while they are also living in fear of being harassed by police as incidents of demands for bribes and confiscation of documentation increase.



A police officer searches a foreign national during a raid in Marabastad. Some foreigners claim that searches like these often lead to their harassment and abuse at the hands of the police. Picture: Phill Magakoe.
(Credit: PRETORIA NEWS)

They have accused the police and other government departments of increasingly being hostile towards them.

While attacks by South Africans on foreigners have ended, those who turned to the Pretoria News told stories of being stopped, searched, questioned and being thrown into the back of police vehicles and driven to police stations “for no reason”.

“You are not safe no matter how sure you are that all your papers are in order,” a Zimbabwean man from Sunnyside said.

Asking not to be named for fear of victimisation, the man said he was called off the street by police and initially accused of being an illegal immigrant. When he produced proof that he was legal, they ordered him into the van.

“They drove around with me and then asked me how much I had so they could let me go.”