Durban - Ten years after lay preacher Christian Bolagna fled the Democratic Republic of Congo with his wife and baby, he has finally been granted refugee status following what a Durban High Court judge labelled “deplorable” treatment at the hands of officials.
“One shudders to think of the thousands of refugees in similar situations in our country who have been or are being subjected to the same treatment… How many have been waiting 10 years, 15 years or have simply given up? How many have had access to lawyers?” Acting Judge Guido Penzhorn asked in his judgment handed down on Tuesday.
Bolagna, who works as a security guard at a beachfront block of flats, and who has now had two other children since arriving in South Africa in January 2005, first applied for refugee status that same month. In November 2006, he was advised that his application had been turned down.
He lodged an appeal, which was heard in November the following year. He was advised that this had been rejected in January 2012. In May that year, he filed a review application in the Durban High Court. A notice of opposition was filed in August that year, but nothing else was done.
The record of the decision was not produced and no responding papers were filed.
Bolagna, in his affivadit, said he fled the DRC because of persecution at the hands of the ruling and opposition parties.
His woes began when he preached to people, in particular the rebels, not to fight.
This came to the attention of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the head of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), who objected to his “pacifist stand” and ordered that he be tortured, arrested and imprisoned.
When he was released, he and his wife fled to Mbandaka, but things were no different there because the ruling party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), believed he was on its side and asked him to use his ministry to recruit support.
He refused to do so, and was then accused of being a spy, and was beaten and imprisoned. When he was released, he and his family led a life on the run.
His mother-in-law was then targeted and was killed by PPRD forces.
The family then came to South Africa, hiding in a truck.
At his hearing, Bolagna said he was not asked to properly explain these circumstances and, in all his dealings with refugee authorities, he had not been offered the services of an interpreter.
Judge Penzhorn said while the appeal board ruled that his testimony “did little to convince the board of the authenticity of his claims”, on the evidence before him, Bolagna’s claims of persecution should be accepted as genuine.
He said he did not believe that he should refer the decisions back for rehearing because of the time lapse, the fact that both Bolagna and his wife were employed, had two children born here and that Bolagna still preached at a small church in Winder Street.
“It seems to me that a clear case has been made for refugee status… It has taken him 10 years to get his far… Must I now refer the matter back, for the matter to take another five years, six years, whatever? Clearly not.”
He said he could not grant an order giving Bolagna permanent residency because the issue was not properly before him, “but I trust that the officials deciding the issue will have regard to the facts set out in this judgment and the personal factors relating to Bolagna and his family”.
The Mercury