A refugee reception office is urgently needed in Louis Trichardt. High levelled representation is on the way to urge Home Affairs to prioritize the establishment of such a facility to assist the large number of refugees and destitute children from Zimbabwe and further afield.

The latest developments in Musina increased the urgency of such action. The Musina Municipality last week demanded the immediate evacuation of all refugees from the only organized shelter for the hundreds of refugees in town, without offering any alternative relief for the serious need of amongst others women and children fleeing the ongoing political unrest in the neighbour state.

The municipal communications officer, Mr Wilson Dzebu, on enquiry confirmed that the municipality has no alternative shelter in place for these people and is also not of the opinion that the problem is of such a magnitude that the municipality should concern itself about it. He said the evacuation order was issued because several municipal by-laws were being violated and complaints were also received about illegal constructions and tents being erected without the municipality’s consent. He said the government has not yet decided that the situation is so bad that the planned refugee camp should be erected. The municipality agree with this opinion. 

Home Affairs’ newly established Refugee Reception Office in Musina is since its inception some weeks ago permanently flooded on a daily basis with hundreds of asylum seekers. The mobile offices now deployed on the Musina show grounds are under continued pressure from larger numbers than it can process during a day. Recently the police were called in by the Musina Municipality and Home Affairs to remove large numbers of refugees who tried to sleep on the Show Grounds to ensure themselves a place in the daily queue. Unless one arrives very early, chances are that you will not be able to be assisted until the next or the next day.

Refugees in the surroundings of Louis Trichardt, encouraged by the Home Affairs’ new assistance initiative in Musina, are now surfacing on a large scale at NGO’s in Louis Trichardt, in an effort to return to that office to legalize their presence in South Africa. They avoid the existing Home Affairs office in Louis Trichardt as it is “hostile and unhelpful” -  a perception which gained credibility as a result of the recent raid on the Jesuit Refugee Services in Louis Trichardt, allegedly instigated by a local Home Affairs official. Most of the refugees in Louis Trichardt have a transport problem to reach the offices at Musina. One observer is convinced that the number of asylum seekers in the vicinity of Louis Trichardt is at the least equal to if not already exceeding those in Musina.

Pastor Forster Kwangwari, who is involved in the care giving to masses of refugees in Musina, last week visited Louis Trichardt and said it is his impression that the problem in Louis Trichardt is much worse than in Musina.

“Although refugees so far largely succeeded in remaining ‘invisible’ in the community, they are present in numbers in and around this town.”  He indicated that the establishment of a refugee reception office in Louis Trichardt could go far to help alleviate the human suffering of Zimbabwean refugees in Louis Trichardt, assist in normalizing the refugee situation and alleviate the pressure on the Musina office. Existing legislation provide for the establishment of any number of such offices where and when needed.