Uproar as UNHCR "deports" Zim refugees

Written by MXOLISI NCUBE

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 14:49

JOHANNESBURG – A recent decision by the United Nations Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to “deport” 131 Zimbabweans from Johannesburg has been met with uproar in South Africa. (Pictured: One of the refugees ‘fooled’ by the UNHCR representatives who has since returned to South Africa.)
The South African province of the mainstream MDC and the Africa Heritage Human Rights Forum (AHHRF), a Johannesburg-based human rights organisation, have both condemned the action and vowed to fight what they termed the abuse of vulnerable Zimbabweans.
According to information made available to The Zimbabwean early this week, the “deported” refugees are part of a group that was relocated from Johannesburg’s Central Methodist Church to various shelters in Rosettenville, in northern Johannesburg early this year.
During the relocation, which was carried out against the will of Bishop Paul Verryn who runs the refugee centre at the church, the United Nations promised to look after the unemployed refugees until a permanent solution was found.

UN short-lived promises
Verryn raised concerns that the refugees would be dumped soon after the leases of the privately-owned shelters expired, but the city of Johannesburg and the UN promised to take care of the refugees, alleging that they had created a health hazard in areas around the church.
The Zimbabweans were moved into the shelters in April this year and lived there for two months, receiving food vouchers from the UN, which also paid for their accommodation.
However, some of the deported refugees, who have since returned, told ***The Zimbabwean that they only received the rations for two months. “We did not get anything in June and were told that we would soon be moved from the shelters, but would not be disengaged from the UN,” said Trust Jumo, one of the affected Zimbabweans.
“The officials told us that they would sponsor us to do some self-help projects and fund us, but only if we agreed to a voluntary return to Zimbabwe.” Having spent most of their South African life in misery, the refugees agreed to the voluntary repatriation, which they thought would give them a new start once they arrived in their home country.
“We were all made to write business proposals, which we handed in to the UNHCR officials who kept coming to the shelters. “We were promised equipment worth about R7 000 each, which we were made to believe was already in Zimbabwe and would be given to us upon our arrival in the country.”
On July 5, after the business proposals had been submitted, the UNHCR organised two buses belonging to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which were used to transport the Zimbabweans to their nearest towns.
“We were told that we would get the equipment and money for our projects from Christian care in both Bulawayo and Harare,” said another Zimbabwean. “Upon arrival at our nearest towns, we were only given R200 and told to visit Christian Care offices for the disbursement of our project equipment.”

Countless fruitless visits
The refugees say that they made countless visits to the Christian Care offices, which bore nothing as they were told that, not only was there nothing for them, but the organisation expected nothing to arrive. “I realised immediately that we had been fooled and, after failing to make ends meet in Zimbabwe, where everything requires foreign currency, yet I was unemployed, I sold my phone and came back here,” said Jumo, who arrived back in South Africa on September 29.
The Zimbabweans say that they had tried to talk to the UNHCR officers who organised their return to Zimbabwe, but no explanation has so far been given. Edith Tsamba, the AHHRF Director, whose organisation was approached by the about 10 Zimbabweans who are already back in South Africa, told The Zimbabwean that her organisation was trying to find out what really transpired.
“We are still trying to talk to the UNHCR officers in a bid to establish the truth about what really happened,” said Tsamba early this week. “Once we get all the facts regarding the issue, we will then see how we can handle this because it is a very serious matter.”
MDC South Africa chairman, Austin Moyo, who has managed to get audience from a Zimbabwean who was part of the team that assisted in the “repatriation”, condemned the action.
“Before these people left, they were promised several things like computers which they would purportedly use in their businesses, some of which were shown to them before they left, but they were told that these would only be made available to them upon arrival,” said Moyo.

Who is to blame?
“I am actually shocked to learn that they were taken for a ride and as a party concerned about the plight of our people, we will make sure that we get to the bottom of this matter and find out what happened to both the money and the equipment that they were shown.
“At this moment, I am not sure on who to blame for this because we are still investigating the matter to find out whether these things were really what the Zimbabweans were meant to believe they were, or they were just meant to entice them into returning home.
“If the equipment was really theirs, then whoever could have misappropriated it should face the music. We cannot allow the already suffering Zimbabweans to be taken advantage of and exploited in this manner; they have had enough of these tricks.” Efforts to get comment from the UNHCR proved fruitless at the time of going to print, as the two related officials said that they were too busy to prepare an immediate answer.

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