Barely two days after returning to Stofland from where she and about 3 000 other Zimbabweans were forced out by angry South Africans just over a year ago, 23-year-old farmworker Lister Gondo said she had been threatened.
A drunk man stopped her on her way from church on Sunday and told her she must go back to Zimbabwe.
“The municipality gave you R2 000 but you are coming here. Why don’t you go to Zimbabwe?” the man asked.
Added Gondo: “I was afraid of this drunk man.”
She returned to Stofland in her employer’s car and escorted by a police van on Friday night, watched by a crowd of local people.
Doing her laundry outside her rented house, watched by her landlord, her four-year-old daughter and a friend, Gondo appeared content.
“I don’t get afraid indoors, but when I have to walk around I’m afraid,” she said.
She planned to stay in the house until next year.
Several houses in the area were empty because owners were afraid to rent them out to Zimbabweans, said Gondo.
Since the return of a number of Zimbabweans to Stofland and Ekuphumleni in recent days, tension has again apparently risen in the informal settlements, prompting regular police patrols.
Residents said the Zimbabweans were taking a risk by coming back into their area.
“The community is not happy that (the Zimbabweans) are coming back. They are taking a big risk,” said a local who asked not to be named. She said the locals still had a “grudge” against the refugees.
However, De Doorns community leader Jerry Kolase said they were urging the locals to stay calm and not get violent. Emphasising that most residents were “totally against” reintegration of the Zimbabweans, Kolase cautioned his community, saying “fighting won’t help us resolve things”. He said community leaders would call a public meeting to discuss the developments and their pending service delivery grievances.
The Zimbabweans’ return came after the De Doorns refugee camp they had been sheltered in since the xenophobic attacks in November, 2009 was shut down yesterday.
The camp had been set up at the local rugby grounds by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Breede Valley municipality after Stofland and Ekuphumleni residents drove out 3 000 foreign nationals, mostly Zimbabweans, they accused of stealing their jobs in the farming town near Worcester.
Zimbabwean workers’ homes were demolished in the forced evictions, resulting in more than 20 local residents being arrested and charged with public violence.
However, charges against some were later dropped, leaving 12 facing charges.
Yesterday was the deadline for camp dwellers to vacate the camp and as the Cape Times arrived, all that was left was refuse and municipal workers doing the last bits of cleaning.
Government officials had battled for months to reach an agreement with the locals to allow the refugees back, but to no avail.
A breakthrough was finally made by a mediator, leading to most voluntarily vacating the camp and receiving a R1 200 settlement gratuity and free transport to Zimbabwe.
Braam Hanekom, leader of refugee rights’ organisation Passop, said he believed the communities could be united.
While many of the estimated 400 who were left in the camp at the time of the agreement were reported to have headed back home, some accepted job offers from farmers until the end of the grape farming season early next year
The rest took the risk of returning to the place they were driven out of.
- Cape Times
A drunk man stopped her on her way from church on Sunday and told her she must go back to Zimbabwe.
“The municipality gave you R2 000 but you are coming here. Why don’t you go to Zimbabwe?” the man asked.
Added Gondo: “I was afraid of this drunk man.”
She returned to Stofland in her employer’s car and escorted by a police van on Friday night, watched by a crowd of local people.
Doing her laundry outside her rented house, watched by her landlord, her four-year-old daughter and a friend, Gondo appeared content.
“I don’t get afraid indoors, but when I have to walk around I’m afraid,” she said.
She planned to stay in the house until next year.
Several houses in the area were empty because owners were afraid to rent them out to Zimbabweans, said Gondo.
Since the return of a number of Zimbabweans to Stofland and Ekuphumleni in recent days, tension has again apparently risen in the informal settlements, prompting regular police patrols.
Residents said the Zimbabweans were taking a risk by coming back into their area.
“The community is not happy that (the Zimbabweans) are coming back. They are taking a big risk,” said a local who asked not to be named. She said the locals still had a “grudge” against the refugees.
However, De Doorns community leader Jerry Kolase said they were urging the locals to stay calm and not get violent. Emphasising that most residents were “totally against” reintegration of the Zimbabweans, Kolase cautioned his community, saying “fighting won’t help us resolve things”. He said community leaders would call a public meeting to discuss the developments and their pending service delivery grievances.
The Zimbabweans’ return came after the De Doorns refugee camp they had been sheltered in since the xenophobic attacks in November, 2009 was shut down yesterday.
The camp had been set up at the local rugby grounds by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Breede Valley municipality after Stofland and Ekuphumleni residents drove out 3 000 foreign nationals, mostly Zimbabweans, they accused of stealing their jobs in the farming town near Worcester.
Zimbabwean workers’ homes were demolished in the forced evictions, resulting in more than 20 local residents being arrested and charged with public violence.
However, charges against some were later dropped, leaving 12 facing charges.
Yesterday was the deadline for camp dwellers to vacate the camp and as the Cape Times arrived, all that was left was refuse and municipal workers doing the last bits of cleaning.
Government officials had battled for months to reach an agreement with the locals to allow the refugees back, but to no avail.
A breakthrough was finally made by a mediator, leading to most voluntarily vacating the camp and receiving a R1 200 settlement gratuity and free transport to Zimbabwe.
Braam Hanekom, leader of refugee rights’ organisation Passop, said he believed the communities could be united.
While many of the estimated 400 who were left in the camp at the time of the agreement were reported to have headed back home, some accepted job offers from farmers until the end of the grape farming season early next year
The rest took the risk of returning to the place they were driven out of.
- Cape Times
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