A South African hero has died. But because of Covid-19 we can’t hold a memorial for her, just yet
Refugee children in downtown Johannesburg couldn’t perform their play about xenophobia in Botswana. Instead they staged a poignant exhibition at home.
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/ 1 February 2010
For thousands of Zimbabweans who flee their troubled country, the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg is the only home they know.
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/ 29 January 2010
A power struggle in the Methodist Church? A pre-World Cup clean-up cloaked in official hypocrisy? Or the reining in of a gung-ho cleric?
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/ 22 January 2010
Paul Verryn, the Johannesburg Central Methodist Church bishop, has been suspended from the Methodist Church of SA, a lawyer said on Thursday.
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/ 8 December 2009
Civil society groups on Tuesday described Johannesburg’s Central Methodist Church, where thousands of migrants have taken shelter, as unsustainable.
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/ 2 November 2009
The primary villain in the Central Methodist Church Zimbabwean refugee saga is the government, the South African Council of Churches said on Monday.
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/ 2 September 2009
The Central Methodist church has an "open-door policy" for up to 3 500 people, mostly destitute Zimbabwean refugees.
The registration of Zimbabwean refugees living at the Central Methodist Church has been completed, Gauteng local government said on Wednesday.
Preventing the transportation of refugees from Musina to Johannesburg was likely to ignite xenophobic attacks, the UNHCR said on Thursday.
Government is looking at granting special status to Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa that will allow them to reside and work in the country legally
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/ 9 December 2008
About 1 500 Zimbabweans spend their nights on a Johannesburg church floor. ”This is not home; it’s just a stepping stone,” one refugee says.
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) and other youth bodies on Friday launched a campaign against xenophobia following the recent attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa. Briefing the media in Johannesburg, ANCYL president Julius Malema extended his apology and assured foreigners they were welcome in the country.
The Department of Home Affairs said on Wednesday it planned to establish shelters for foreigners who have fled xenophobic attacks over the last two weeks. The BBC reported on Wednesday that seven ”refugee camps” would be set up. By Monday night there were an estimated 17 000 displaced foreigners left in Johannesburg.
George Mhanda came to Johannesburg to feed his family, struggling to eat under Robert Mugabe’s derelict rule. The Zimbabwean mechanic found a job in a local garage and a room in a small house in Tembisa township, and sent cash home every month.
Anti-immigrant violence has spread to Cape Town, where mobs attacked Somalis and Zimbabweans and looted their homes and shops, police said on Friday. Hundreds of African migrants were evacuated overnight from a squatter camp near Cape Town, the hub of South Africa’s prized tourism industry.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s deafening silence after weekend elections has raised increasing speculation about the fate of a strongman who has never previously found himself lost for words. Rumours have also been swirling around about him possibly preparing to depart for a foreign country where he will live out his twilight years in exile.
Robert Mugabe’s ruling party is ready for a presidential election run-off between the veteran Zimbabwean leader and his arch-rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, a government spokesperson said on Thursday. ”Zanu-PF is ready for a run-off, we are ready for a resulting victory,” Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said.
Police brutality in South Africa needs to be stamped out, the South African Human Rights Commission (SARHC) said on Wednesday. The SAHRC was referring to recent raids by police on Stellenbosch night spots as well as on the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. In the raids, police allegedly assaulted a number of immigrants and patrons.
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/ 7 February 2008
Human rights issues concerning refugees, immigrants and exiles needed urgent discussion and action at all three levels of government, experts said on Thursday during a panel discussion at the University of the Witwatersrand. The discussion dealt with the Central Methodist Church raid in Johannesburg as well as the country’s immigration policy.
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/ 3 February 2008
There are serious legal concerns over the treatment of immigrants who were arrested this week at the Central Methodist church in the Johannesburg CBD, the Legal Resource Centre said on Saturday. Detainees were apparently delayed in receiving medical and legal assistance and were allegedly asked for bribes by police.
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/ 1 February 2008
Church leaders expressed shock and outrage on Friday at a police raid this week on the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg, during which hundreds of immigrants were arrested. Eddie Makue, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, said for many years the Church had welcomed those who had been displaced.
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/ 31 January 2008
Central Methodist Church Bishop Paul Verryn has condemned the heavy-handed way in which police arrested up to 1 500 refugees housed at his church in the Johannesburg CBD. The arrests were made during a late-night raid on Wednesday. The church is seen as a sanctuary for Zimbabwean refugees.
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/ 31 January 2008
South African police have raided a church that was a sanctuary for Zimbabwean refugees, arresting scores of suspected illegal immigrants, the South African Broadcasting Corporation said on Thursday. The raid occurred at about midnight on Wednesday at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, which has become a virtual refugee camp for those fleeing Zimbabwe.