The leader of the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, Bishop Paul Verryn, has been dragged into a legal battle with local businesses in the area, because of the swelling numbers of Zimbabwean refugees living on, and around, the church premises.
The church is fighting a High Court application filed by local businesses, who are seeking to have the refugees moved elsewhere. Business owners have argued that there are serious sanitation, hygiene and safety scares as a result of the numbers of exiles living on the streets outside the church, and many have a demanded that a fence be erected to cordon off the exiles from the rest of the city. Bishop Verryn is now facing a court action from two companies which are adjacent to the church on Pritchard Street. They want the church to remove the 20 mobile toilets which are a stone’s throw from one business which is a restaurant and to find an alternative place for the refugees.
On Wednesday an emergency meeting between business leaders, church leaders and City of Johannesburg officials was convened to find an urgent solution to the refugee crisis now affecting the heart of Johannesburg. City officials have now reportedly made steps to resolve the crisis, asking for a joint task team to be formed with all the relevant parties, to deal with the worsening hygienic conditions.
The Central Methodist Church has been a lifeline to thousands of Zimbabwean refugees forced to flee their own country, which has been crippled by combined humanitarian, economic and political crises. With nowhere else to go, more than 3000 men, women and children have been living on the church premises, receiving food and medical treatment from local NGOs, with an estimated 2000 living on the city streets outside. But that number has swelled significantly in the past week, after authorities in the border town Musina closed an overflowing refugee camp there.
By last Wednesday the makeshift shelters of an estimated 5000 Zimbabweans exiles living at the Musina showgrounds had been torn down and burnt, after the Department of Home Affairs announced it was closing a mobile refugee registration office that was based near the camp. The decision to close the camp was met with outrage by charity groups, with Doctors Without Borders officials saying the move “demonstrates a flagrant disregard for the humanitarian and protection needs of Zimbabweans seeking refuge in South Africa and will have extremely negative consequences, as no allowances have been made to ensure their access to shelter, food or medical assistance.”
The charity described in a statement last week the cruel nature with which authorities shut down the camp, explaining that families were not even allowed to stay together. Last Tuesday authorities started dividing the refugees into different groups, according to their legal status, gender, and age. Women with children, pregnant women and unaccompanied minors were removed from a special location that had been established for them at the showground, despite having nowhere else to go. The remaining refugees were then ordered to vacate the area. With many holding no documentation protecting them from the threat of deportation, hundreds fled to Johannesburg seeking protection and shelter.
Meanwhile, the Department of Home Affairs has confirmed that it is considering giving Zimbabwean nationals temporary legal status in order for them to work in the country. The exemption card would allow them to work and live in South Africa for a period of time, yet to be decided by the Government.
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