BY STAFF REPORTER
Legislators in Zimbabwe have raised concern over the continued detention of asylum seekers and immigration detainees in remand prisons alongside criminal offenders, questioning whether the practice complies with international refugee protection standards.
The issue was raised in Parliament during Question Time when Agency Gumbo asked Government what measures were being taken to ensure asylum seekers and immigration detainees were not housed in already congested correctional facilities.
Responding on behalf of Government, Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi admitted that the current arrangement was “not the ideal system,” but said authorities were constrained by a lack of alternative holding facilities.
“Our position currently is, while the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage is working out the budgetary requirements and moving towards the creation of their own boarding or holding houses, we do not have any other place where we can keep them safely and secure,” Ziyambi told Parliament.
He said Government was aware of concerns surrounding Zimbabwe’s obligations under international refugee conventions and was seeking Treasury support to establish separate facilities for asylum seekers.
“It is not the ideal system to be in place,” he said.
In a supplementary question, Gumbo argued that detaining asylum seekers in prisons was unnecessary because many were not criminal offenders but individuals awaiting administrative processing.
He suggested Government could instead utilise facilities such as Waterfalls transit camp or Tongogara Refugee Camp while immigration processes were underway.
However, Ziyambi defended the current arrangement, saying authorities first needed to verify the status of individuals claiming asylum before admitting them into refugee camps.
“We do not hold refugees in our correctional facilities but those individuals who we would not have finished the processes of vetting and trying to establish their status, we cannot put them in refugee holding camps,” he said.
He also warned that some detainees awaiting deportation could abscond if they were held in less secure environments.
“Once somebody knows that an order for deportation has been given, it is not ideal to put them in a refugee camp because the chances of escaping will be very high,” Ziyambi said.
The parliamentary exchange comes amid broader regional debates around migration, deportations and refugee protection in Southern Africa, particularly following renewed tensions involving foreign nationals in South Africa.