South African protesters chant slogans (Photo Courtesy The Daily Nation)

Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans living in South Africa are still living in desperate squalor, in a country that offers them no official sanctuary.

This is according to a new report released by the Solidarity Peace Trust, titled: "Desperate lives, twilight worlds - how a million Zimbabweans live without sanction or sanctuary in South Africa." The report released on Wednesday details the dire reality facing Zimbabwean immigrants who fled their country seeking safety and work in South Africa, a trend that is still continuing.

"The crisis of immigration into South Africa is a direct product of the crisis in Zimbabwe; as economic recovery in Zimbabwe is not likely to occur soon, its biggest export will remain its people," the report reads.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma recently labelled the crisis as placing 'significant strain' on South Africa's capacity and resources, and yet, as this new report shows, "there is no coherent indication from (the South African) Government on how it intends to deal with this, either now or in the future." Zuma, as the regional facilitator in Zimbabwe's political crisis, has only moved to appease Robert Mugabe and not solve the crisis that has driven millions of people out of the country. His approach has been mirrored by his government's treatment of Zimbabwean refugees, who are treated either as criminals or intruders.

"There is an urgent need for the South African government to develop a more sensible policy towards the hundreds of thousands of undocumented Zimbabweans within its borders," the report reads.

The report also details the crisis facing more than a thousand Zimbabweans still living in a refugee camp in the Western Cape farming town, De Doorns. Last year, the group was forced to flee their homes after angry locals threatened them with violence, accusing them of stealing their jobs. More than four months later, they are still living in appalling conditions in the refugee camp, and the attitude towards them has not changed.

Braam Hanekom, from the refugee rights group PASSOP, explained this week that the situation is 'rapidly deteriorating', explaining how there is little or no aid reaching the refugees. He explained how promises made by government officials to safely reintegrate the Zimbabweans into the communities they fled, have come to nothing, leaving the Zimbabweans destitute.

"The government seems to be more preoccupied with local disputes and the football world cup," Hanekom explained, adding: "The Zimbabweans in De Doorns seem to have been completely forgotten."

Meanwhile, a special permit promised by the government to help deal with a backlog of Zimbabwean asylum seekers, has still not come to light. Hanekom explained that it leaves the Zimbabweans vulnerable, because they fall through the cracks of the overwhelmed asylum system. Hanekom also decried the 'prejudiced' actions of aid groups who have refused to help Zimbabweans, because they are not labeled refugees.

"Their refusal to see Zimbabweans as refugees is a huge problem, and if the government does not offer them some protection, no one will," Hanekom said.

The Solidarity Peace Trust report also detailed how thousands more Zimbabweans are living 'on the edge of visibility', in run down, squalid buildings in Johannesburg. It says the official response has been to evict people and arrest them, in a bid to remove the 'ugly' sight of migrants from the sight of tourists ahead of the June soccer World Cup. The Trust warned that "the writing is on the wall that there will be more xenophobia in South Africa, as none of the underlying issues are being adequately addressed."

"Violence will continue to be seen, as long standing prejudices against foreigners and political turf wars play out at the expense of migrants," the report said.