http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6936967.stm
Many people from Zimbabwe illegally cross the border to neighboring South Africa. Groups of white South African farmers are taking this problem into their own hands by finding the Zimbabweans, tieing their hands, loading them into trucks, and taking them to the police department to be deported. Technically the farmers are assaulting the refugees but so far none have been charged.
This reminds me of the controversial minutemen at our own northern and southern borders who watch for people trying to enter the US illegally. As with the South African farmers, their treatment of the people they catch is sketchy at best. Why can't the farmers and minutemen just leave these poor people alone and let the government do any catching? The effect the refugees have on the farmers and minutemen is minimal compared to the effect a new country (and therefore new opportunities) have on the desperate refugees.
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as soon as i started reading your summary i also thought of the minutemen in Arizona and New Mexico "protecting" the US from illegal immigrants. i took a Spanish class once that focused on hispanic immigration into the us and i did a report on the "American Border Patrol," which, despite its misleading name, has no affiliation with the US government. here's their website:
http://www.americanborderpatrol.com/
aside from the slight comedy that this website provides because of its ridiculous views on immigration (in my opinion...) the idea of these minutemen groups make me sick, and it saddens me to think that there is a similar situation between south african and zimbabwe as well.
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