Today around half of the refugees who had been living on Che Guevara Road since 22 May boarded buses to travel to Lindela, the notorious prison used to hold undocumented migrants prior to deportation. They have been given no clarity at all on what their future will now hold, or on what, if any, plans the government has for them.
The rest, more than 200 people, have refused this pressure and did not board the buses. We have been repeatedly attacked by March and March, acting with the support of ActionSA and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), and have received repeated threats, some of which we have shared with the media. These threats include a threat to have men from the nearby Dalton Hostel attack us during the night. Along with threats from March and March and anonymous people, we have also been threatened by the government.
Home Affairs KZN Provincial Manager Cyril Mncwabe has told us that if we do not get into the buses to be taken to an uncertain future in Lindela – a place notorious for violence, corruption and various kinds of human rights violations – we will be evicted from the street. This is also, of course, a threat of violence.
Those of us who have refused the pressure to accept being taken to Lindela have now moved to Stella Park. Dangerous weather is forecast and we also do not know what our future holds. Many of us have children, and many of our children are in local schools – which is one of the reasons why we refused the pressure to be taken to Lindela.
We wish to remind the people of South Africa that we are all documented refugees, that we were forced from our homes by fascist mobs while the police stood by or accompanied the mobs, and that our businesses have been destroyed or looted by March and March, ActionSA and MKP. When we were first driven from our homes, the government promised us temporary emergency accommodation. The fascists drove us away from this accommodation and when we went to the police seeking support they attacked us too.
The government then gave us only two choices: either go back to the communities from which we were violently expelled or go to Lindela. The government refused to make any arrangements to make it possible for us to return to the communities from which we were expelled by ensuring our safety. When March and March attacked us on Che Guevara Road, the police allowed them to carry weapons and accompanied them as they came to attack us.
We fled repression and wars in our countries of origin, were given the status of documented refugees, violently expelled from our homes by fascist mobs, attacked by the police and then repeatedly attacked by fascists on the street where, in desperation, we took refuge. Now some of us are being taken to a notorious migrant prison and others are left sheltering in a park, with both groups deeply fearful of their future.
It is unfortunate that the media continue to misrepresent the situation and to produce stories in which we are not spoken to. For instance, the article just published by News24 falsely says that we are all going to Lindela. This is just not true. It quotes only one person – Ndileka Cola from the Department of Home Affairs. Not one refugee is quoted. Once again, we respectfully request the media to speak to us when they report on us.
We remain deeply grateful to all the principled South African comrades who have stood with us in solidarity through this terrible ordeal.
A government that took human rights seriously would ensure that those of us who remain and are now sheltering in Stella Park are protected from attack, that measures are taken to give us safe temporary accommodation and that we are then afforded the protection necessary to be able to return to ordinary life.
However, we continue to be people who are not counted as people, people whose humanity is denied, people who can be driven from their homes, insulted and attacked at will, people who can be abandoned by the state and treated like animals or criminals.
Today, we wait to see what will happen to us in the park – if we will be attacked by the police or the fascists, or both, and if we will have to endure dangerous weather. Those of us who are Christians remember the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Keep us in your prayers.
Bishop Raphael Bahebwa
068 226 9355
Kafuti Muyumba
075 466 8269
