Photo: University of Pretoria Pretoria High Court.
On
Wednesday, parents of eight Zimbabwean children filed an urgent
application in the Pretoria High Court for an interdict to stop the
Minister of Social Development and the Minister of Home Affairs from
repatriating their children to Zimbabwe. The parents are in Cape Town.
Lumka Oliphant,
spokesperson for the Department of Social Development, would only
comment that the court first wants the report of the independent Family
Advocate it had previously ordered before deciding on what is in the
best interest of the children. The court did not grant the interdict and
has postponed the matter to Friday 2 March.
The Department has stated that it intends to fly the children to Harare International Airport on 6 March.
Advocate Simba
Chitando, acting for the parents, argued that this would be unlawful and
not in the best interests of the children.
The children, aged
between two and 12, are being held by the Department of Social
Development at an undisclosed location and parental contact has been
denied. The children were taken into custody over three months ago, in
November, after they were discovered in a truck. They were travelling to
Cape Town to be with their parents.
The parent of the
12-year-old child told GroundUp that the parents were never consulted on
the repatriation process. They do not know what will happen to the
children when they arrive back in Zimbabwe.
Chitando said the
Minister of Social Development had not filed anything in court
indicating reasons for detaining the Zimbabwean children. There was only
a press statement that said children were detained pursuant to the
Trafficking Act.
"The immediate
reunification with the biological parents, based in Cape Town, is in the
best interests of the children. ... According to Section 31 (1) (a) of
the Trafficking Act, the Director General of Home Affairs and Social
Development may not repatriate a foreign child who is a victim of
trafficking without due consideration into the best interests of the
child," Chitando argued in court papers.
He said there could
never be any suitable arrangement for the care of an infant in Harare
that is better than care by the biological parent in Cape Town.
All the parents
have stated on affidavit that they are capable of going to Rustenburg to
collect their children and to take them to Zimbabwe themselves.
Chitando
characterised the planned repatriation as "a slap dash attempt at
getting rid of their [Home Affairs and Social Development] burdens and
obligations to guarantee the safety of the children".
In Heads of
Argument, Chitando states that "the callous way that the biological
parents have been kept in the dark, without forthcoming explanation ...
has left them to assume they have been stripped of their parental
rights".
The departments had
taken the children through the Children's Court to suspend parental
rights without notifying the parents. He said those proceedings are
likely to be set aside.
The Department of
Social Services had only acknowledged receipt of the parent's court
papers in a press statement and expressed displeasure with the
allegations in the court papers, but it had not filed any opposing
papers. The department had also missed two court appearances.
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