VZCZCXRO7186
RR RUEHDU RUEHJO
DE RUEHSB #0927 2901329
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 161329Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3568
INFO RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 5559
RUEHTN/AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN 0562
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 0120
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 0538
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS HARARE 000927 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR CA/FPP AND AF/S B. WALCH 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO KCC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CMGT CVIS SF SMIG ZI
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICAN VISA APPLICATIONS FROM ZIMBABWE - 
STAGGERING 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  According to First Secretary Consul Mshiyeni 
Dennis Nzuza, the South African Embassy in Harare processes 
approximately 360,000 Zimbabwean visa applications yearly. 
In a meeting with post's consul, Nzuza explained the South 
African Consular Section consisted of 5 adjudicating officers 
and 26 local employees, and accepted approximately 1000 
applications from Zimbabweans queuing at the embassy each 
day.  In addition, the section receives an additional 1000 
applications daily from various courier services.  Nzuza said 
their approval rate was over 90 percent, about 324,000/year, 
in a 7-10 day turn-around process that included a namecheck 
for prior overstays.  He characterized the vast majority of 
Zimbabwean applicants as economic migrants, and acknowledged 
the large number of applications reflected a SAG relaxation 
of visa requirements over the past two years.  Describing the 
South African visa adjudication process as a paper process 
without any biometric data collection (photo or 
fingerprints), he said fraudulent documents were a huge issue 
and estimated that 30 percent of the Zimbabwean passports he 
sees contain false biographical information. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Zimbabwe is South Africa's only neighboring 
country which does not have a free visa policy.  Due to 
Zimbabwe's self-destructive political and economic policies, 
unemployment is well over 90 percent which continues to fuel 
a tidal wave of emigration, both legal and clandestine. 
Although the International Organization for Migration claims 
an average of 3,900 illegal Zimbabweans are deported each 
week, Nzuza estimated that the Zimbabwean population in South 
Africa continues to grow by 300,000/year.  While the sheer 
number of Zimbabweans has stressed the South African 
infrastructure, created "quasi-refugee" camps deplored by 
numerous human rights groups, and created internal South 
African social upheaval, the SAG has been steady in its 
reluctance to grant refugee status to the Zimbabweans, nor 
facilitate some sort of legal status.  At the heart of the 
SAG's dilemma is that by acknowledging refugee or 
humanitarian migrant status to the Zimbabweans, the SAG would 
also be acknowledging the failed policies of the government 
it supports in Zimbabwe. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Putting the situation in practical terms, Nzuza 
lamented his workload, comparing the South Africa-Zimbabwe 
border to the U.S.-Mexico border.  Although South Africa 
relaxed its Zimbabwean visa requirements following a meeting 
of the two Ministers of Home Affairs in Harare in May 2007, 
he said the decision was "political" and that South Africa 
was far from removing the Zimbabwe visa requirement as 
envisioned by the SADC Protocol for the Facilitated Movement 
of Persons.  Acknowledging that South Africans have no visa 
requirement to enter Zimbabwe and that the GOZ has been 
calling for the same from the SAG, Nzuza said his 
government's policy on the subject has been steady:  "Get 
your house in order first, then we'll discuss removal of 
visas."  When asked to specify, he said Zimbabwe would have 
to stabilize its political, economic, and border security 
issues before the removal of the visa requirement was 
realistic. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Comment:  As SADC leader, South Africa's vision of 
a Free Travel/Movement Zone within the SADC region is in 
direct conflict with its experience with the Zimbabwean 
Border.  It cannot afford to lift Zimbabwean travel 
restrictions without running the risk of opening the country 
to an even larger wave of migrants and domestic protest. 
While the SAG has heretofore been reluctant to criticize the 
policies of the Mugabe government, the scale of Zimbabwean 
emigration will certainly strain this policy for its new 
President. 
DHANANI