Written by Staff Reporter, Monday, 30 November 2009 17:22
JOHANNESBURG -- Clothes are hung on the bushes in the nearby Small Street and hungry minors as young as seven wonder the pavements without parents in sight. Young adults stand in groups on the peripheries of the Johannesburg Central Methodist church, trying to chat the young evening hours away. (Pictured: Bishop Paul Verryn – Runs the Johannesburg Central Methodist church that is home to many Zimbabwean immigrants.)
Despair is written all over their faces as it becomes apparent that they will once again spend yet another night at the sanctuary the church has offered them. We arrive at the church just after seven in the evening and I quickly realize two middle-aged men standing near the entrance of the church facing Small Street.
Introducing myself to them was no problem as one of them immediately recognised my face. "I know who you are," he says as he lifted his right hand, scratching his nose. He looked straight into my eyes pensively. I must say I felt quite intimidated during that silent minute and then he continued, "People from the media and human rights organisations have been coming in and going out, but it's no use. Only God can get us out of this."
Hair-raising tour
After chatting to this man, whose name I later learned was Tafadzwa, he led me back into the church, a hair-raising tour that literally shook the devil out of me.
Inside the building were close to 100 people on the ground floor. Some of them lay on the benches ineptly and so oblivious of who was coming in and going out.
A mother lay near the stairway cradling a child who I can only estimate to have been between the ages of two and four. As we walked in, she raised her head and slowly laid it on the hard surface under her head and then, with the care only a mother could give to a child, she pulled the sheet of cloth up to cover herself and her child.
"This is our home," Tafadzwa says in a low voice and continues, "as you can see, some people are already sleeping. This is where we hide from all the vagaries of the night in Johannesburg. I think we are even lucky to have such a place to put our heads."
On the stairway, there were just over eight people with their heads covered to hide away from us as we approached. How bad could Zimbabwe be for these people to opt for such conditions, I continued to ask myself as we continued with Tafadzwa.
"Are all these people political refugees?" I asked. Tafadzwa looked at me with a frown, but I managed to draw a desperate smile in return, wondering if my question was that foolish. "Not all of us. In a way I could say politics in Zimbabwe forced this on us. These people are victims of circumstances," he said, as we weaved our way quietly up the stairway.
On the 1st floor were multitudes of people who seemed home too. Looking through one of the windows, the thought of freedom, politically or economically seemed too far away to even contemplate or conceive. Outside, in the streets not so far away, grandiose new model German cars whizzed past and the night lit streets were abuzz with life.
A farfetched dream
The margin between the poor and the rich suddenly struck me as monumental and it became real. For these people, political and economic freedom still remained a farfetched dream that may not be realised, ever.
I asked Tafadzwa about females who have been abused in the church. He declined to comment on it but rather conceded to us that it has happened before. It is so obvious that there is abuse going on in the building with men and women sleeping under the same roof in conditions of this nature, I told myself.
"This is the only place where we can sleep. This church has been very kind to us by not closing its doors in our faces. I believe Bishop Verryn is a God-send" Tafadzwa says, as he leads the way outside. I still remained with a nagging feeling that I must talk to a woman who will tell us her own experiences as seen by her.
So we met Faith, a 19-year old who arrived in Johannesburg from Chegutu in December 2008. Her account of the life she has led in South Africa since she arrived is spine-busting.
Faith is six months pregnant and still resides in the church. How does one intend to bring a child into this earth to live under such conditions is just beyond me. Faith tells us that she left Zimbabwe because of economic hardships as she could not find a job after completing her 'O' Level.
"I could not find a job in Zimbabwe after completing my schooling in 2006. Things got worse after the tragic death of my parents in a bus crash at the beginning of 2008," she says.
"When I got here I was living with my boyfriend in Hillbrow, but things quickly changed when my boyfriend started seeing a South African woman. He threw me out of the flat he was sharing with four of his friends. But his friends decided that since he was working night shifts, I could come in and sleep in the flat while he was at work and vacate early in the mornings before he comes,"
Faith says she was trying to find work during that time but she could not secure any work because of her paperwork. Asked if she had registered with the South African Home Affairs department as a refugee, she pulled out the paper that temporarily allowed her entry as an asylum seeker.
Raped by strangers
She says things got to a head it was brought to the attention of her ex-boyfriend that she was now seeing one of the ex's flat-mates and was spending nights in the comfort of his arms. The ex was so furious and got involved in a physical fight with his flat-mate and he chased him out of his flat too. On that fateful day, hide and seek ended.
Not knowing that she was pregnant in May this year, her relationship with the friend of her former boyfriend ended abruptly as he just disappeared into thin air. She says she slept outside on the pavements until July 2009 when she was raped by two youngsters stinking of alcohol in Joubert Park in the early hours of the night.
The case was reported at Hillbrow police station. We followed it up and Hillbrow police station confirmed that the police had a case of that nature, but it was still under investigation. She says that after her rape ordeal she then moved to the Methodist Church in Johannesburg central where she has had some kind of solace.
Asked if she feels secure there, she replies "You can never be secure anywhere in South Africa. Girls are offered food in exchange for sex in here. It happens outside frequently and because of the desperation within our people, they succumb and offer the quick service."
After the rape ordeal, Faith tested HIV-positive and has luckily managed to be on an anti retro-viral programme offered by the Department of Health and has under-gone some limited counseling.
"There are good numbers of people who have fled the country because of their political activities. Abductions and torture by state agents is real in Zimbabwe. I have been in the hands of state agents before and I have faced death in the eyes before" says Tafadzwa.
As I left the Methodist Church, so much had been said about the grueling cold nights, crime, hunger, despair, helplessness...you name it, these people have seen it all.
Status blurred
The refugee statuses of Zimbabweans still remain blurred in South Africa. The legality of the status given to them is still questionable as the South African constitution and laws only recognise political but not economic refugees.
We just received reports of the South African police arbitrarily arresting Zimbabweans and demanding money to set them free at their randomly mounted roadblocks. Such is the current system that it allows law enforcement officers to perpetrate such scams on foreigners, a blatant abuse of power on poor foreigners.
Meanwhile, South Africa's Home Affairs Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has kick-started consultations on a new migration policy and the proposal has been passed by cabinet.
She is set to also consultat with the labour movement, COSATU, a close ally of the African national Congress. The policy is set to take into account the new flood of migrants, the economic migrants. Since the current immigration policy only recognises political refuge, this is largely seen as a step in the right direction and an answer to Zimbabweans' prayers.
The new policy will address the critical need to allow government to distinguish between and to separate economic migrants from political asylum-seekers, which until now has created logjams in processing such applications by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
So much for the land of milk and honey!
