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PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty) is a community based, grass roots organization devoted to fighting for the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants in Cape Town, South Africa. It is unique in that it is an advocacy and activist organisation that draws the bulk of its members from the refugee community. By identifying and exposing corruption within the Home Affairs Department, PASSOP has greatly increased 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.

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 foriegn 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 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.”Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

External References

[1] History of Passop

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 == 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 foriegn 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 [[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.”<ref> 'About PASSOP' http://passop.co.za/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=2/ref>
+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 foriegn 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 [[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.”<ref> 'About PASSOP' http://passop.co.za/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=2/ref>
+== Protests around Home Affairs Queue ==
-  PASSOP has held several protests which have led to a substantial increase in the number of applications processed by Cape Town’s Department of Home Affairs. Moreover, PASSOP has successfully lobbied for clean water taps, bins and portable toilets to be placed at Cape Town’s Refugee Centre (where between 600 and 1,000 people live and sleep outside on any given day while waiting in the queue to put in their asylum application). Before PASSOP began its protest action, the situation at the Refugee Centre was so bad that [[Adonis Mosatu]] starved to death while waiting in the queue.  PASSOP then launched the Adonis Mosatu project, which feeds several hundred people every week; it is now an independent project which we support.  PASSOP continues to organize public protests about the living conditions of refugees in South Africa and the oppression and [[human rights]] violations of the families and people left behind by immigrants.
+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]], in November 2007. At that time, the Department of Home Affairs processed only 20 asylum applications daily, as between 600 and 1,000 refugees camped outside the department in a queue circling the block. Many foreign nationals waited in the queue for weeks; one, [[Adonis Mosati]], starved to death while waiting to receive asylum documents that he was entitled to by law.[hhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7090730.stm " BBC News: Zimbabwean Dies Queuing for Visa"]. Following this death, PASSOP lodged a complaint with the [[South African Human Rights Commission]] and raised funds to repatriate Mosati'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, and has provided those queuing with clean water taps, waste bins and portable toilets.
+== Xenophobic Violence in May 2008 ==
+Following Xenophobic attacks in several informal settlements in the Western Cape and Gautang
 Refugees have come together within PASSOP in order to speak out about the conditions which they left behind and 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.   PASSOP is also working with students, and has established a student organization at the [[University of Cape Town]]- UCT PASSOP.  Together, we believe that we have an opportunity to influence South Africa on issues relating to immigrant populations. We have in common the dreams shared by many oppressed – those of freedom, of peace, of freedom of expression and most importantly those of equality.