This was an interesting move because we have seen how the department willingly bussed people to the office to avoid having a large crowd in the centre of town, directly opposite Parliament.
Strangely when the department spoke to us about the new system they told us that people were not going to be allowed to sleep outside the Barrack Street office, creating a lot of confusion. I desperately tried to find out what time people were supposed to start queuing as the day allocated to Zimbabweans was approaching and I was receiving many phone calls from Zimbabweans who wanted to know what to do. I called Richard Sikakane the new head of refugee affairs to merely ask him the queuing system, but he did not know and said he would SMS me the time. Thursdays and Friday are the days allocated to Zimbabweans wanting to apply, I never received the message, so I went through on Wednesday night.
There were Zimbabweans sleeping on the streets all over town afraid to sleep outside the offices, but when we saw a group sleeping outside the entrance we told people and everyone ran to the offices and began a long queue. The queue divided into two, one line of women and one of men. There were about 800 people in total.
The police arrived and allowed them to queue saying they would fight with Home Affairs in the morning about the immigrants sleeping on the street.
I was anxious to see what time the officials would come to work and what they would do with the crowd that remained after they served their select few. The officials arrived at 0400 hours in the morning, took the first 180 in the queue and by 0430 hours they told everyone to leave.
Where they were to wait or go they were not told. This angered me because most of the Zimbabweans had been displaced and had reintegrated themselves, but were now not being given the opportunity to receive the minister’s exemption which people in the camps received.
They had slept through the night in the rain, with no roof over them. They had been on the street and now they were supposed to vanish before daylight so the world would not see their suffering.
We could not allow this and I promised people that if they stayed and refused to move I would stay with them. This was at about 0440 hours. The department desperately tried to get the line to move, until eventually they agreed to serve all those who remained queued, in a bid to clear the streets. The group of about 200, who had refused to leave, have all received the permits.
It was a small victory, but seeing a group of Zimbabweans taking a risk, standing up for their rights and being awarded them was inspirational. What will happen this week? I am not sure but we will be fighting for the basic right of application for refugee status again.
Post published in: News