The Sunday Mail
Kuda Bwititi in Harare and Trust Matsilele in Johannesburg
The United Nations Development Programme has released US$100 000 to Government for repatriation of 2 000 Zimbabweans who were affected by Afrophobic violence in South Africa.
The returnees are expected back home today. Other UN agencies will provide essentials such as water, food and medical kits.
United Nations Resident Co-ordinator Mr Bishow Parajuli told The Sunday Mail that 95 percent of the 2 400 affected Zimbabweans who spoke to the UN were eager to return home.
“As such, the United Nations system in Zimbabwe is working with the Government to help bring back home and provide assistance to those Zimbabweans that are affected and who expressed their wish to return home.
“So far, we understand that there are some 2 400 Zimbabweans who have been affected and 95 percent of these have expressed their desire to return to their home country. To assist with the repatriation, the United Nations System in Zimbabwe is sending a team of aid officials to Beitbridge on 19 April 2015.”
In an interview last week, Foreign Affairs Secretary Ambassador Joey Bimha said at least 15 buses were on Friday dispatched to South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province to ferry the returnees to Beitbridge Border Post, from where they would be transported to their respective homes.
Ambassador Bimha said authorities were yet to establish the identity of the Zimbabwean killed in the attacks.
“The first thing that was done was to ascertain whether these people are really Zimbabweans before ferrying them to the border. At the border, they will be vetted and cleared and from there, they will be transported to their local destinations,” he said.
Those interviewed in East Rand, South Africa – one of the most volatile areas – were anxious to return home.
Ms Rebecca Ngamambi (54) of Chivi, Masvingo – a cross-border trader – witnessed the attacks hardly a week after she came to South Africa.
Like others from Mozambique, Somalia, Ethiopia and Malawi in East Rand, she spent nights at Primrose Police Station following attacks by locals.
“I am both the mother and father to my children. This is the only way I help my children to go through school and put food on the table.”
Another Zimbabwean, who only identified himself as Simba, said: “I am prepared to go back home if I manage to get assistance. I am afraid to go back to collect my belongings where I live as police have warned that they might not be able to protect foreign nationals who remained in affected areas.”
Andy Mashaile – chair of the Gauteng Provincial Police Board – suggested criminals were behind the attacks and should be arrested and convicted. South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba told diplomats that the country was exerting all efforts to save life.
He recently met the ambassadors of Ethiopia‚ Nigeria‚ Zimbabwe‚ Somalia‚ Mozambique and Malawi in Durban to express regret over the attacks.
