South African government steps in to help displaced Zimbabweans

Posted by ZDN on February 1, 2010

The small tents sleep 8 people. The heat and overcrowded conditions have led to an outbreak of TB in the camp.

They arrive by the truckload every weekday evening, their faces weary and bodies wilted after twelve hours spent picking fruit in scorching heat. They’re glad to be home. But for these Zimbabweans in De Doorns, a small town in the scenic Hex River Valley northeast of Cape Town, home is a tented community on the town’s only sports field. The nearly 1500 mostly Zimbabwean refugees have been here since November, when xenophobic attacks erupted in the nearby townships. Angry locals chased them out of their homes, accusing them of stealing their jobs.

“I was very afraid,” said Tsungai Chavhunuk, 30, who lives in the camp with her husband and 2 year old baby. “It was the first time in my life I’d been threatened so hard.”

And the harassment and abuse didn’t stop there. Chavhunuk, who came here from Harare three months ago, said the South Africans and Zimbabweans work together on the farms, where tension is rife.

“[The South Africans] are rough when working,” said Chavhunuk. “They tell us to go back to Zimbabwe.”

Even standing on the curb outside the refugee camp, insults are hurled at the Zimbabweans from passing trucks.

“Go back to Mugabe!” they shout. “Go back to Zimbabwe you ‘kuirikuiri’,” a derogatory term for “foreigner.”

Zimbabwe’s ongoing political crisis and economic collapse has led to an estimated 3 million Zimbabweans fleeing to neighboring South Africa in search of a better life, but rarely do they find it. Rampant unemployment, deplorable living conditions, and xenophobic attacks are some of the myriad challenges facing Zimbabweans that come to this country. And the situation is set to worsen as thousands continue to flock here daily.

“People are still pouring across the border,” said Braam Hanekom, chairperson of the refugee rights organisation People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (Passop), which is spearheading relief efforts in the De Doorns camp. “The De Doorns situation is symptomatic of a much wider problem. More people spells disaster.”

The difficult conditions lead to tension among camp dwellers.

But the South African government is taking steps to mitigate such a disaster. In April 2009, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) announced a new system to regularise the legal status of Zimbabweans in South Africa, and it also placed a moratorium on deportations of Zimbabwean nationals. Until last year, 17,000 Zimbabweans were deported each month by South African authorities, according to United Nations and DHA figures. The government’s new stance is a stark departure from its previous policy of harassment, arrest and deportation.

“The national government has been extremely mature on this situation,” said Hanekom. “Home Affairs is taking the crisis seriously and they’re not trying to sweep it under the carpet.”

President Jacob Zuma has also increased pressure on Zimbabwe to resolve outstanding issues threatening the unity government. Ultimately, the lasting solution lies in the creation of a politically and economically stable environment in Zimbabwe. Most of the Zimbabweans in the De Doorns camp said they want to go back home, but it is too dangerous and not economically viable.

“If I went back I would definitely die,” said Happy, 25, a former member of the Zimbabwe Nation Army (ZNA) who fled the country to avoid political persecution. He chose not to disclose his last name for safety concerns.

“I would love to go home, home is best,” said Linda Shamu, 27, who has been here for six years. “But we need change in the country before we can go back.” Shamu left behind two children in Harare. “I miss them a lot,” she said. “Sometimes I just cry.”

If they can’t return to Zimbabwe quite yet, their hope is to be reintegrated into the community. But Mayor Charles Ntomi, whose phone appeared to be disconnected last week, has said reintegration is not possible at this stage. Locals said they are adamant they would drive the Zimbabweans out if they tried to return.

“We will braai them and turn them into KFC if they come back,” Pastor Frank Henke told the Cape Argus. “There’s no place for them here.”

A local shop owner said violence has increased in the community since the Zimbabweans moved in. She said locals were also resentful that their children had nowhere to play sports, as the refugee camp is erected on the only sports field in town.

Last Tuesday Hanekom met with Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana to discuss the crisis in De Doorns, a meeting that Hanekom said signified the national government’s commitment to resolving the issue.

“Having the Minister of Labor listen to us was a huge vote of confidence,” said Hanekom. “It tells us that they’re taking it seriously.”

Women stand in long lines in the heat, waiting to collect nappies.

But conditions in the camp are deteriorating. Each small, oblong-shaped tent sleeps eight people, and the intense heat and overcrowded conditions have led to an outbreak of tuberculosis and diarrhea among the babies. Mike Moyo, 34, chairperson of the Committee for the Displaced in the camp, said there is no clinic or medication in the camp, with the only option being to risk an attack and walk to the local clinic 800 meters away.

“There were services in the first week, then none,” said Moyo.

He said Xhosa nurses at the clinic allegedly send the sick away without helping them. This mirrors a Médecins Sans Frontières report from June 2009 that revealed Zimbabweans across the country were being denied medical care based on their ethnicity.

The De Doorns attacks are one of a spate of xenophobic attacks against Zimbabwean nationals in South Africa in the last few years. Attacks in May 2008 led to 62 deaths and the displacement of thousands across the country.

“We belong to one mother, one continent,” said Happy. “Why must we fight?”

All photos courtesy of PASSOP