Durban - A UN agency has stepped in to help immigrants living at the Chatsworth temporary camp for refugees.
They are being provided with “reintegration packages” consisting of rent money and food vouchers to help rebuild their lives.
The package was designed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in partnership with the South African government to help foreigners who were displaced by the xenophobic attacks that recently rocked the province.
“We assist those who either want to go back to the areas they lived in before or want to relocate to other areas (in South Africa) which they have identified as being safe,” said the UNHCR’s Acacio Juliao of Mozambique.
He said by Friday they had assisted 80 families to move back to where they lived or move to new places. They provide financial assistance of a rent subsidy worth R2 000 for families and R1 000 for those on their own. The recipients also get a food voucher up to a maximum of R750 a month and a R500 one-off voucher for non-food items. They will receive the package for only two months and the UN says it is the South African government’s responsibility to oversee the workplace and business integration.
“Those who do not want to go back to living among South Africans are offered repatriation. We have found a few opting to go back to their home countries,” he said.
Following the repatriation of thousands of Malawians, Mozambicans and Zimbabweans in April, there were still more than 500 foreigners left at the Chatsworth camp.
Juliao said most of the Burundians and Congolose feared returning home because of wars and political instability.
“Over 200 of them don’t want to reintegrate, identify new communities or be repatriated. They want us to relocate them to another country. Unfortunately the UN does not have the powers to move refugees from one country to a refugee situation in another one,” he said.
South Africa does not have permanent refugee camps and Juliao said the Chatsworth camp would be closed down eventually.
Most of those who have taken the reintegration package told The Mercury of their frustrations. They accused the government of pushing them back to the society when neither they themselves nor the communities were ready.
“Every day we are being threatened by messages from officials who say they are going to close down the camp,” said Ayesha Basimba.
She and her family of four had lived on the outskirts of the Durban city centre, but they moved to the Chatsworth camp last month.
“I don’t have money to pay the deposit and rent for a new place, so we are going back to where we lived. The R2 000 monthly subsidy is not enough to cover the full rent, but we will have to make do,” she said.
Basimba said she came to South Africa because Burundi was not safe and she would rather die here than go back.
“What do I have to go back to?” she responded when The Mercury asked her about the possibility of repatriation.
Congolese Willie Chikuru has asked to be repatriated. He expressed fears about going back to the Democratic Republic of Congo since he fled with his wife and three children in 2010.
“I’m scared, but I would rather die in my home country than on foreign soil,” he said.
Chikuru said the level of violence he witnessed from South Africans last month scared him.
“I believe the government needs to organise sessions of dialogue between immigrants and locals before we go back to living with them. We need to know what they expect from us,” Chikuru said.
His sentiments were shared by Daniel Dunia, also from the DRC.
“They (the government) are in such a rush, and in the process putting our lives at risk,” said Dunia.
The eThekwini deputy city manager for community and emergency services, Musa Gumede, said the reintegration efforts in residential areas were successful, but they were still engaging with small business owners so that immigrants could go back to running their businesses.
“We’ve had numerous meeting with communities and councillors, and the locals have welcomed the foreigners back. That is why some of those who were not repatriated from the initial 8 000 have gone back to their communities,” he said.
KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu’s acting spokesman, Sibusiso Magwaza, said engagements with communities and immigrants were continuing.
“The reports that the premier has been receiving indicate that the situation is not deteriorating.”
The Mercury