South Africa would not set up camps to deal with Zimbabwean refugees crossing the border into the country, the South African Cabinet decided on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference following the Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said South Africa’s hopes rested on the mediation of President Thabo Mbeki.
The tens of thousands of Zimbabwean refugees streaming south are a threat to South Africa’s stability, says Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Their numbers had increased from 4Â 000 a month in 2004 to 20Â 000 a month, he said in his weekly newsletter on Friday.
The influx of Zimbabwean refugees into South Africa is a ”serious problem” and should be dealt with, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Thursday. ”Clearly we must do more to see what we can do to deal with this large influx of refugees,” he told reporters in Pretoria.
Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula appears to be ”deliberately misinterpreting” legislation in order to avoid the government’s legal obligation to set up camps for refugees from Zimbabwe, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. The minister had recently rejected a DA suggestion that refugee camps be put up.
Isabelle Wirimana was nine years old the last time she saw her family. All she remembers of fleeing their house in Kigali, Rwanda, during the 1994 genocide is the crowd of passers-by carrying her from the crumbling city, away from her parents and four siblings lost somewhere on the road.
The spat between the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Department of Home Affairs over the handling of Zimbabweans fleeing to South Africa continued on Wednesday. Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula ”has no idea” of the volumes of Zimbabwean refugees who will flow into South Africa over the next few months, the DA’s Mark Lowe said.
A Palestinian woman who fled her north Lebanon refugee camp two days before said on Friday there was so little food there that she was prepared to eat cats to survive. Joumana Wehbe fled along with secular Palestinian fighters and their families to free the way for a final army assault on the al-Qaeda-inspired militants holed up inside.
In a first for Africa, the Cape Town metropolitan council is drawing up a policy to tackle the xenophobic upsurge that has seen dozens of Somali traders driven from the city’s townships. But critics complain about the slow pace of implementation and say it has been watered down.
The number of Zimbabweans seeking asylum in South Africa has increased dramatically since Robert Mugabe’s police assaulted the country’s opposition leaders on March 11 this year, experts say. Thousands of Zimbabweans are jumping the border into South Africa every week.
In commemoration of World Refugee Day on Wednesday, the Johannesburg City Hall hosted numerous NGOs and civil society groups that came together to highlight the troubles faced by refugees, particularly children, living in South Africa. Some refugee children shared their stories with the crowd.