CNS STORY: Church officials: South Africa unprepared to help Zimbabwean refugees

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CNS Story:

SAFRICA-REFUGEES Mar-20-2007 (490 words) With photos posted March 16. xxxi

Church officials: South Africa unprepared to help Zimbabwean refugees

By Bronwen Dachs
Catholic News Service

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- South Africa is unprepared to meet the needs of thousands of people fleeing political and economic problems in neighboring Zimbabwe, Catholic officials in South Africa said.

"Every day more and more people seek our help, and the blankets and food that we distribute are quickly used up," said Pierre Matate, coordinator of projects for Emmanuel Cathedral Parish in the Durban Archdiocese and the head of Durban's refugee services.

Matate, who was a political refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, called on South African churches to open their halls at night to give Zimbabweans shelter.

"This is a crisis situation, and they (Zimbabweans) are traumatized," Matate told Catholic News Service March 16 in a telephone interview from Durban.

"If we could provide them with a place to sleep for awhile, it would give them the peace of mind they need to get on their feet again," he said.

Matate also denounced the racism shown refugees seeking help in South Africa and neighboring countries.

"Refugees are not at all welcome in South Africa," Matate said. "We are darker-skinned than South Africans which sets us apart."

Matate said if xenophobia could be overcome Zimbabweans would be "easily integrated" into South African society because their languages are similar, and Zimbabweans are familiar with South Africa.

More than three million Zimbabweans have sought economic and political refuge in South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia and Malawi, according to the U.N. news agency IRIN. More than a million Zimbabweans have left for the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, reported IRIN.

More are likely to flee following the recent arrest and beatings of opposition demonstrators, including main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said Kabelo Selema, head of the justice and peace department for the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference.

Zimbabweans also were the largest group of asylum seekers who arrived in South Africa in 2006.

Selema noted that the South African government is "making things easier than they were in the past" for Zimbabweans seeking refuge. New asylum seekers are registered and issued a temporary residence permit that allows them to stay in South Africa to look for work while their applications are heard.

Meanwhile, in a March 13 statement, the South African Council of Churches, of which the bishops' conference is a member, said the relief measures offered by churches in South Africa and neighboring countries "are unable either to stem the tide of migrants or to meet their dire needs."

"As a result, the situation in Zimbabwe threatens to destabilize the entire" southern African region, the council said.

Political leaders in southern Africa "have a responsibility to engage in actions that enhance peace and security for all people of the region," it said.

However, the "silence of the South African government is aggravating the situation" in Zimbabwe, the council said.

END

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