For every moment that he spends in his busy office, he rarely finds time to himself as he is constantly swarmed by requests for interviews, meetings with NGOs, or attending to the needy as a constant stream of men, women and children, all try to outwit each other in attracting his attention.
On the day I am visiting, precisely two months after the horrific xenophobic attacks that engulfed South Africa, there are visible signs here of the effects the violence has had on foreigners. As my guide and I make our way to Bishop Verryn’s office, everywhere around us are tired bodies of despondent foreigners huddled in groups, with heads buried in their laps. Signs of sleep deprivation; hunger and fatigue are visibly etched on their weather-beaten faces.
When I am finally ushered into his spacious office, I waste no time in asking the Bishop why he opened his church’s doors to the downtrodden, mostly Zimbabwean immigrants. In his modest way, he tells me he is simply carrying on a mission started by his predecessors going back 20 years.
This is in cognisance of the fact that Johannesburg streets are very tough for people who are not streetwise. It leads to a situation where vulnerable people become even more vulnerable. Thus four years ago, Bishop Verryn decided to offer his church as
a sanctuary for those fleeing political persecution in the DRC, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and others.
Does he think the recent xenophobic attacks were a result of an influx of Zimbabweans fleeing Robert Mugabe’s tyranny?
It heightened the vulnerability of foreigners in this country, he says.
He believes though there are three key factors to blame for the xenophobic flare-ups we witnessed – the media, police and home affairs.
As a case in point, Bishop Verryn cites newspaper headlines that screamed: Two Zimbabweans hijack motorist’, as perpetuating deep-rooted stereotypes about foreigners in this country.
Secondly, the police are irresponsible, he says, as they continue to harass and deport immigrants even in the wake of a moratorium ordered by the minister, following the xenophobic attacks on May 11 2008. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 17 000 Zimbabweans were deported at the height of the disturbances.
Home Affairs were the third stumbling block as its performance was appalling. According to the Bishop, out of about 2 500 people that visit home affairs at Crown Mines in Johannesburg daily, only 300 cases are attended to. The rest don’t get appointments but have to try their luck the following week. In the interim, they are vulnerable as this kind of practice criminalises immigrants, contends Bishop Verryn. The long waiting period makes them easy prey for the Police, who do not recognise appointment letters as official legal status.
South Africa is a prejudiced society given our susceptibility as a nation. The river of poverty flows just under all of these factors, he adds.
With the gap between the rich and the poor ever widening, the latter look to the future with hopelessness. Adding to the gloom among impoverished communities is the fact that learnerships are not matched by jobs in the market, a scenario worsened by the country’s lower matric pass rate.
If Bishop Paul Verryn has his way, doors to his church will always remain open to the needy. It heartens him that the cross flow of many needs are met as a result of city residents cooperating and co-existing. The poor come in search of possibilities for a better life.
As an inner city church we need to attend to the needs of people, says Bishop Verryn. He acknowledges that it was very difficult in the beginning to convince his congregates to give their blessings to the idea of turning the church into a place of refuge for immigrants and poor South Africans.
The chapel is still a functional church, with five services taking place every Sunday, which includes a French service. It is compulsory for refugees residing there to attend the evening sermon. This policy is in line with Bishop Verryn’s vision of making it a place of empowerment rather than one of abandon.
Bishop Verryn laments government failure to recognise the skills possessed by foreigners languishing at the Central Methodist Church.
The other day, a woman in the construction business walked into our offices looking for 10 artisans, 10 electricians, 10 bricklayers and labourers. It goes without saying that she got the people she was looking for without a hitch.
That illustrates the kind of skills we are sitting with, which could be harnessed to good use. We even have a medical doctor helping us out at the reception. He has asked us to link him up, but that is an exercise in futility given South Africans’ attitude towards foreigners, he laments.
The resourcefulness of the refugees at the Central Methodist Church of Johannesburg, was further demonstrated when they opened a school for children on Monday July 7 2008.
The immigrants organised everything themselves, including devising a suitable syllabus for the school, because there are teachers among them, says Bishop Verryn proudly.
Prior to the outbreak of the nasty xenophobic attacks that erupted on May 11 2008, Bishop Verryn had warned home affairs this thing could blow up in our faces. But he was still surprised by the scale and brutality of the violence.
The South African Human Rights Commission described the attacks as unprecedented, in that never before in world history have so many foreigners been internally displaced.
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He says it is incredible that of those slain, 21 were actually South African citizens.
The irony of it all is that 39 deaths caused the displacement of 39 000 foreigners nationwide. That is the scale of this calamity.
It is a sombre recognition that the xenophobic mayhem is a profound blemish on our hard-fought democracy. This scourge is anathema to us and we are not through it yet, because suspicion of foreigners exists to this day.
Bishop Verryn says the situation could be remedied by repairing the bad image given to foreigners. The media had a duty to profile the gigantic contributions being made by immigrants in our country, both intellectually and financially. There is an urgent need to set a legacy for South African children.
The skills possessed by Zimbabweans are exactly what we are crying out for. As everyone knows Zimbabwe has the highest literacy levels in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks in large part to government foresight in spending about 50% of its budget on education. But by these xenophobic attacks, we have buried Pan-Africanism and showed the entire world we really don’t know what it means to be African, he explains.
What forces were behind these dastardly attacks?
They seem to have been orchestrated by some members of political parties. Indeed conspiracy theories exist but the media, police and home affairs played a decisive role on account of their propensity to prejudice, asserts Bishop Verryn
Add to that the growing disparity between rich and poor.
Bishop Verryn acknowledges the risks inherent in sheltering so many displaced foreigners, as the likelihood of criminal elements and opportunists taking advantage is real. This is why he personally interviews and sees everybody seeking shelter there.
To maintain security on the premises, he is assisted by a team of 27 guards, who are themselves refugees. Despite this, incidents of mischief cannot be ruled out. While I was interviewing the Bishop, his cell phone rang incessantly. It was the Police updating him on the theft of 120ï‚´50kg bags of mealie-meal that had occurred at the church the previous night.
The suspect, a Zimbabwean refugee entrusted with food storage at the premises, removed the bags under the pretext they were being taken to refugee camps around Johannesburg.
Life inside South Africa’s first refugee camp’ located in a functional church; is far from blissful. The inhabitants share large open plan rooms with other foreign families and homeless South Africans.
There is hardly a minute of privacy in there, confides Bishop Verryn.
However, he is grateful for the battery of assistance that comes his way, viz Red Cross and numerous other NGOs who are always ready to lend a helping hand.
The deluge of generosity shown towards the victims has been overwhelming; as shown by one German woman who donated 50kgs of clothing.
Earlier, as I frantically tried to get an interview with the Bishop, I had beaten a group of Unicef workers to the queue.
So why has Bishop Verryn turned this work (welfare of refugees and vulnerable people) into a personal crusade, doesn’t it impact on him as an individual?
It keeps me very busy, he chuckles.
To stress the point, he tells me he has been working all night, only going to bed at 8am that morning. Within a few hours, he was up and off to Pretoria before getting back to work at lunch hour, where a crowd of people were waiting to be helped.
It’s incredible to be in a space where people need help, he says philosophically.
The Bishop dismisses suggestions that criminality prompted these attacks, saying fear was behind it.
South Africans have needed no lessons in crime, we are perfect at it, he adds.
Post published in: News