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People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) is a community-based, grass roots non-profit organisation fighting for the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants in Cape Town, South Africa.

PASSOP offers a range of services including: help desks that offer paralegal advice, integration events and workshops, a Disabled Children Support Project, an African Solidarity Education Project, assistance with documentation issues, ZDP Permits and Appeals, monitoring of Internally Displaced Persons camps and other advocacy and education projects.

Founding

PASSOP was founded in 2007 by a group of Zimbabweans and spearheaded by Braam Hanekom. Though originally established in response to increased tensions between Zimbabwean foreign nationals fleeing Robert Mugabe's increasingly repressive regime and South African citizens who blamed them for crime and unemployment. PASSOP has since become a leading advocate for refugees and immigrants to demand human rights in South Africa. Staffed by volunteers and funded primarily through donations, PASSOP has had a large impact on the debate around the situation of documented and undocumented immigrants in South Africa, vowing to be a "voice for the voiceless". Passop is an Afrikaans word meaning beware. PASSOP is unique amongst other South African non-profit organisations in that it is an advocacy and activist organisation that draws the majority of its members and volunteers from the refugee community.

History

By identifying and exposing corruption within the Home Affairs Department's Refugee Reception Centre, PASSOP has helped to increase the number of asylum seekers being served each day (from around 20 before the creation of PASSOP to now over 200). Through protest action, PASSOP has brought the issues of corruption and xenophobia to the public eye.

In November 2007, PASSOP set the tone for its protest activism in its advocacy for the refugees who were forced to wait in massive queues outside of Cape Town's Department of Home Affairs Refugee Center. At that time, the Department of Home Affairs processed only 20 asylum applications daily, while 600 to 2,000 refugees camped outside the department in a queue circling the block. Many foreign nationals waited in the queue for weeks; one, Adonis Musati, starved to death while waiting to receive asylum documents that he was entitled to by law.

Following this death, PASSOP lodged a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and raised funds to repatriate Musati's body to Zimbabwe. PASSOP members also staged several protests at the Refugee Center and lobbied the Parliament on behalf of those refugees still waiting in the queue. As a direct result, Cape Town's Department of Home Affairs now services between 180 and 300 applications daily.

Xenophobia and PASSOP

There are a large number of immigrants living in South Africa, estimates varying between one and three million. Massive documentation backlogs, poor queue management, corruption, and a general lack of resources at the Refugee Reception Centres across South Africa, coupled with an incoherent immigration policy in general has led to a situation in which most of immigrants in South Africa are undocumented. It is these undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees that are the most vulnerable, most marginalised section of South Africa's population.

This group of undocumented immigrants is acutely under-represented in labour unions, civil society and community activism efforts, and not represented at all politically. This lack of representation leaves them with compromised access to education, health care, labour rights, shelter, and even the most basic human rights. They are among the most easily and widely exploited individuals in South Africa, and are often made the victims of targeted hate crimes and xenophobic aggression. In 2008, more than 60 immigrants were killed and over 30,000 people were forcefully displaced as a result of xenophobic attacks throughout South Africa. In 2009, the attacks were repeated and over 3,000 people were displaced in the Western Cape alone. PASSOP fights for the rights of this acutely marginalised group of people.

For example, following xenophobic attacks in several informal settlements in the Western Cape and Gauteng in May and June 2008, PASSOP was a vocal member of the Civil Society Task Team, set up by the SAHRC in response to the massive influx of foreign nationals into refugee camps. PASSOP worked closely with both South Africans and foreign nationals to negotiate the refugees' peaceful reintegration into their communities. PASSOP remains a forum in which refugees can speak out about the conditions in which they now live in South Africa. PASSOP works closely with community leaders in the Zimbabwean, Congolese and Somali community structures to address issues, concerns and problems facing refugees and immigrants within Cape Town. In this, PASSOP especially advocates for undocumented immigrants who often have no civil representation.

PASSOP collaborates with students and has many student volunteers from the University of Cape Town who assist and support it in many of its day-to-day functions. Moreover, PASSOP is the beneficiary of the annual Cape Town Zimfest Music festival, first held in the Good Hope centre, Cape Town on 6 September 2008. The musical event features performers including Freshlyground, The Rudimentals, The Dirty Skirts, Ike Moriz, New Altum, Tristan Waterkeyn and Coda.

PASSOP maintains that definitions of refugees and asylum seekers need to be reformulated to take into account breadline refugees. The situation in Zimbabwe is so appalling that people must choose between leaving their homes in search of a means of survival or remaining at home to starve. The economic condition in Zimbabwe is so extreme it constitutes a humanitarian crisis. People in Zimbabwe are so destitute that many are below the breadline, meaning they cannot even afford basic food and are therefore driven out of their own country, seeking subsistence survival in South Africa and other Southern African nations. PASSOP wants to make the South African public aware of the lack of choice people have in their decisions to cross the border. PASSOP is against all xenophobic attacks on immigrants and maintains that the right to freedom and dignity is one of all persons residing in South Africa, whether here legally or illegally. PASSOP has made their disappointment with South African foreign policy known through the media and public protests. PASSOP continues to demand immediate improvement in the services provided to refugees and asylum seekers by the Department of Home Affairs.

See also

v t e Politics of South Africa
By province	Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga North West Northern Cape Western Cape
Political movements	Ideologies African nationalism Afrikaner nationalism Anarchism Anti-war Black consciousness Environmentalism Federalism Feminism Liberalism Libertarianism Pan-Africanism Non-racialism Trotskyism Political parties see South Africa political parties Other political organisations AfriForum Afrikanerbond Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA) Congress of South African Students (COSAS) Earthlife Africa Keep Left Khanya College Koeberg Alert Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP) People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) South African Liberal Students' Association (SALSA) South African Students Congress (SASCO) South African Wine Initiative Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF)
Trade unions and Social movements	see South Africa trade unions Equal Education Mandela Park Backyarders People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) Poor People's Alliance Abahlali baseMjondolo Landless Peoples Movement Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Reclaim the City Social Justice Coalition Treatment Action Campaign Unemployed Peoples' Movement
Law	see South African law
Political culture	African Renaissance Alternative media Azania Corruption (Don't) touch me on my studio Freedom Charter Proudly South African Rainbow nation Renaming Tenderpreneurs Toyi-toyi Ubuntu UnFreedom Day White monopoly capital Ungovernability Xenophobia Anti-Chinese sentiment Anti-Indian sentiment Slogans "Amandla Ngawethu!" "No Land! No House! No Vote!" "Dubul' ibhunu" (Shoot the Boer) "One Settler, One Bullet" "Each One, Teach One" Books and periodicals African Communist Amandla ANC Today Biko I Write What I Like Long Walk to Freedom Molotov Cocktail No Land! No House! No Vote!
Other	Corrective rape Crime Cape Independence Elections e-tolling Farm attacks Gupta family HIV/AIDS Labour brokering Land occupations Legacies of apartheid Lindela Phala Phala robbery Political assassinations Political repression Protests Sexual violence Shack fires Terrorism Third Force
Category

v t e Political history of South Africa
Defunct polities	Kingdom of Mapungubwe (c. 1075–c. 1220) Dutch Cape Colony (1652–1806) Mthethwa Paramountcy (c. 1780–1817) Ndwandwe Kingdom (c. 1780–1819) Cape Colony (1795–1910) Zulu Kingdom (1816–1897) Natalia Republic (1839–1843) Natal Colony (1843–1910) Orange Free State (1854–1902) South African Republic (1856–1902) Griqualand East (1861–1879) Griqualand West (1870–1873) Goshen (1882–1883) Stellaland (1882–1885) Nieuwe Republiek (1884–1888) Upingtonia (1885–1887) Klein Vrystaat (1886–1891) Orange River Colony (1902–1910) Transvaal Colony (1902–1910) Union of South Africa (1910–1961) Transkei (1976–1994) Bophuthatswana (1977–1994) Venda (1979–1994) Ciskei (1981–1994)
Events	Pre-colonial Bantu migrations Battle of Salt River 1652–1815 Dutch settlement French Huguenot settlement Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars Xhosa Wars Battle of Muizenberg Battle of Blaauwberg Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 1815–1910 Mfecane 1820 Settlers Great Trek Boer Republics Transvaal Civil War Mineral Revolution Witwatersrand Gold Rush South African Wars South Africa Act 1909 (National Convention) 1910–1948 South West Africa campaign Maritz rebellion Rand Rebellion Great Depression 1946 African Mine Workers' Union strike Bantustans Apartheid 1948 general election Apartheid legislation Pass laws Internal resistance Coloured-vote constitutional crisis Defiance Campaign Congress of the People Freedom Charter Women's March 1956 1957 Alexandra bus boycott Sharpeville massacre 1960 republic referendum International isolation UN Resolution 1761 UNSC Resolution 591 Academic boycott Disinvestment Constructive engagement Tar Baby Option Sporting boycott Olympics Rugby union Rivonia Trial Durban Moment Border War Israeli alliance Israel–South Africa Agreement Mafeje affair Soweto Uprising Weapons of mass destruction Project Coast Church Street bombing 1983 constitutional referendum Langa massacre Rubicon speech Operation Vula Dakar Conference Transkei coup d'état Ciskei coup d'état Venda coup d'état Third Force CODESA Storming of the Kempton Park World Trade Centre Bisho massacre 1992 apartheid referendum Saint James Church massacre Bophuthatswana crisis Shell House massacre Post- apartheid 1994 general election Government of National Unity Reconstruction and Development Programme Truth and Reconciliation Commission Arms Deal Floor crossing Soweto bombings African Renaissance Travelgate Xenophobia Attack on Kennedy Road Blikkiesdorp Marikana massacre 2012 Western Cape farm workers' strike Nkandlagate Racism 2014 platinum strike #RhodesMustFall protests #FeesMustFall student protests Tshwane riots 2019 service delivery protests 2019 Johannesburg riots COVID-19 pandemic 2020 Phala Phala Robbery 2021 unrest Lady R incident
Political culture	African nationalism Afrikaner Calvinism Afrikaner nationalism Anarchism Azania Baasskap Boerehaat Black Consciousness Movement Cape Independence Day of the Vow Greater South Africa Honorary whites Rooi gevaar Slavery Swart gevaar Uitlander Volkstaat
Defunct organisations	Civic and political organisations Afrikaner Bond Afrikaner Broederbond Afrikaner Party AITUP APO AVF BPC Black Sash Boerestaat Party CDA CNIP CTEG COD Congress Alliance COSG CP DLF Dominion Party DP (1973–1977) DP (1989–2000) DPP DSM ECC FA FD Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners GNP Het Volk HNP (Herenigde) HNP (Herstigte) IDASA ID IP ISL Jeugkrag Johannesburg Reform Committee Labour Party (1910–1958) Labour Party (1969–1994) Liberal Party (1953–1968) NA NCP Natal Indian Congress NLP NNP NP NPP NRP NUSAS Occupy Orangia Unie Oranjewerkers Orde Boerevolk PAVN PFP Progressive Party (Cape Colony) Progressive Party PRP Radio Freedom Reform Party SABP SADECO SAIC SASO SAYCO SAYRCO South African Party (Cape Colony) South African Party (1911–1934) South African Party (1977–1980) TNIP Torch Commando UFP United Party Unionist Party National Party of Venda Volksparty Workers Party WOSA Trade unions and social movements APF BCM BLATU CNETU CTSWU FCWU FNETU FOSATU ICU IWW MUSA NEUM NURHS PAWE SAAPAWU SACTU SAIF SARHU SATUC Die Spoorbund UDF Umkosi Wezintaba Paramilitary and terrorist organisations APLA ARM AWB BBB Boeremag Greyshirts MK Ossewabrandwag Orde van die Dood PAGAD SANF
Histories of political parties	African National Congress Democratic Alliance Pan Africanist Congress of Azania
Category

Gallery

• logo
• A protest against police brutality and xenophobia Feb 2007
• A protest outside of the South African Parliament

References

1. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php? Their mission is to empower communities to stand up and express their beliefs, needs and fears freely and access the rights to which they are entitled. PASSOP believes that this can be achieved through basic rights education, activism, integration and community participation.set_id=1&click_id=3069&art_id=vn20080710054824971C327450
2. "About PASSOP | PASSOP". passop.co.za. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
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5. "PASSOP | People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty". Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
6. HAWTHORNE, PETER (11 April 2004). "Say What?". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
7. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=vn20080414153304876C257855
8. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=vn20071205112720435C110949
9. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=vn20080227114154122C478756
10. BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7090730.stm Zimbabwean Dies Queuing for Visa"
11. "PASSOP | People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty". passop.co.za. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
12. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=vn20071115113932766C208216
13. "The Context | PASSOP". passop.co.za. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
14. "South Africa's Immigration Problem". FORDHAM POLITICAL REVIEW. 20 February 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
15. Ballard, R. (8 September 2005). "Globalization, marginalization and contemporary social movements in South Africa". African Affairs. 104 (417): 615–634. doi:10.1093/afraf/adi069. ISSN 0001-9909.
16. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=vn20080425113642333C725509
17. "Zimbabwean Music Festival | The premier festival of Zimbabwean music and culture in North America". zimfest.org. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
18. "Zimbabwe Marange diamond mind corruption two billion plundered – people forced from homes – Zimbabwe Homeless – Demolition, clearance of homes". thewe.cc. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
19. Foundation, Thomson Reuters. "Humanitarian | Thomson Reuters Foundation News". alertnet.org. Retrieved 26 October 2018. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
20. "PASSOP | People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty". passop.co.za. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
21. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3069&art_id=nw20080516180251853C534717

External links

• Homepage: People Against Suffering Suppression Oppression and Poverty
• The Zimbabwean: "PASSOP Watch a weekly column"
• Video on Refugees in Cape Town: "I am.. refugees trying to legalise themselves"
• The Voice of the Cape: "PASSOP Takes Immigrant Issues to SAHRC" 07/22/2008
• PASSOP Press Statement: Zimbabwe Elections 04/10/2008
• PASSOP Press Statement: Somalian Victimization 03/19/2008
• PASSOP Press Conference 06/10/2008
• PASSOP Press Statements: Solidarity 2007–2008
• Cape Argus: "New Reception Office to Risky for Refugees" 07/18/2008
• Cape Times: "Activist Threatened in Xenophobic Attack" 07/10/2008
• Cape Argus: "Interview with Refugee Activist"
• meeting with deputy minister

• Social movements in South Africa
• Human rights organisations based in South Africa