The ManicaPost
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe will next week join the rest of the world in commemorating World Refugee Day as we celebrate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees who have been forced to flee their homes. Zimbabwe hosts more than 12 000 refugees from various countries who have found a temporary home in light of the troubles back in their country.
The Manica Post senior reporter Rumbidzayi Zinyuke (RZ) recently caught up with Tongogara Refugee Camp administrator Mr Johanne Mhlanga (JM) to discuss how Zimbabwe has been handling Africans who have sought refuge in the country and the challenges they meet in ensuring that they move on with life as smoothly as possible once they get here.
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RZ: Please give us a brief background of Tongogara Refugee Camp and a breakdown of the population at the camp and their nationalities.
JM: Tongogara Refugee Camp was established around 1979 as a demobilisation centre to accommodate ZANLA forces who were returning home from Mozambique. Prior to 1979, the area was a research station. Following the finalisation of the demob processes, the centre was then transformed to be a refugee camp for thousands of Mozambicans who were running away from the civil war as a result of the conflict between Renamo and Frelimo. From 1983 to 1994, the camp accommodated thousands of Mozambicans. In 1992, Mozambican Government and Renamo signed the Rome Agreement that paved way for peace to be restored in the country. This therefore led to the voluntary repatriation of Mozambicans in 1994.
The camp was closed. It was then reopened in 1998 following the influx asylum seekers from Rwanda, Somalia and DRC. Since then the camp has been providing safe haven to refugees and asylum seekers from a number of countries experiencing military and political hostilities. These countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Central Africa Republic, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya etc.
The camp population has been increasing progressively from the year 2014. To date there are 12 980 refugees and asylum seekers. Of these, 9 678 are from DRC,1 532 from Mozambique Burundi has 814 Rwanda has 630 refugees and asylum seekers. In addition, the camp is also home to refugees and asylum seekers from South Sudan (33), Mali (62), Uganda (11), Somalia (20), Eritrea (10), Ethiopia (45) among other smaller communities.
RZ: How are you managing such a huge number of people of different nationalities?
JM: The Government of Zimbabwe has a unique way of handling foreigners in general and refugees in particular. We have the Government of Zimbabwe taking the lead by providing first line and last line of defence to the victims of human tsunamis. To augment and compliment Government efforts there are United Nations agencies like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and World Food Programme (WFP) and a host of non-governmental organisations such as Goal Zimbabwe, Terre des hommes, Childline, Jesuit Refugee Services and Silveira House. All these organisations are providing comprehensive services for the well being of refugees and asylum seekers in the camp. The services extended to the refugee population are meant to enhance the cognitive, social, emotional and physical well being of refugees. So we have a concoction of services stretching from primary education, shelter, health, food, cash, self-reliance projects, pastoral care, counselling and psychosocial support. In short we have gone beyond the basic humanitarian services that concentrate on shelter, water, health and food. Our approach is guided by the Government of Zimbabwe’s social protection and development policy as well as the United Nations guidelines such as the Global Compact on Refugees whose emphasis is on self-reliance for products of human tsunamis. So we have created opportunities to the refugee community and we now have a service centre more than a refugee camp. All these opportunities are a recognition that refugees are not passive recipients of humanitarian aid. In other words, we are demystifying the popular but tired narrative that characterise and define refugees as hopeless and helpless.
RZ: What are the challenges that you face in providing these services?
JM: Just like any village in Zimbabwe, we do have our own challenges. These lack of funding for vocational skills opportunities for the youthful population. we also have a challenge with shelter provision to the refugee population due to the increasing population.
Accommodation for partner staff members is another problem we face as well as shortage of classrooms at our local schools.
We need more classroom blocks at Tongogara Primary School to cater for the rising population. We also need to transform St Michael’s Secondary School to attain Advanced level status. Therefore, we need to have a library and a new Science Laboratory block. Once all these structures are in place, we can have an Advanced Level status.
However, life can never be all about challenges, we have good things that happen here as well.
Through support from the Government of Zimbabwe and its partners we have created opportunities for the refugee population. Such support has made it easier for us to provide comprehensive services to children, people with disabilities, the elderly, chronically ill persons and single women. Our services are alive to the fact that we have diversity in terms of the population under our protection. As such we are guided by the fundamental and foundational values of humanitarian interventions such as the age, gender and diversity approach. We have registered success stories in the following:
Promotion of primary health care to the refugees and host communities. By the way close to 1500 people from the host communities are benefiting from the local health centre in the camp.
Promotion of the right to primary education. Our local school has close to 2 320 pupils. In addition, refugee children have access to secondary education and even higher and tertiary education.
Consistent supply of tap water at least for four hours a day. This is augmented by the availability of 11 bush pumps dotted around the camp for ease of access by the refugee community.
Quality, consistent, sustainable and predictable social protection interventions are extended to the refugee population through cash based intervention and in kind assistance.
Self-reliance and livelihoods opportunities for the refugee community such as irrigation projects, livestock projects, grocery shops, grinding mills, vegetable markets etc.
Peaceful coexistence with the host community should be commendable.
RZ: Do you have refugees who have stayed at the camp for many years? What mechanisms do you have in place for such people who have no wish to go back home? Is there a time when one has stayed long enough in the country to be considered for citizenship?
jm: It is true that we have long stayers in the camp. These refugees are under what we call ‘protracted refugee situation.’’ It is a situation caused by protracted conflicts in most troubled countries across Africa. Some of the countries are failed states. It should be noted that these people will remain refugees up until a durable solution is found for them. In other words, these people are expected to go back home once there is peace or to benefit from resettlement opportunities in the developed world. At the moment we do not have a policy in place allowing refugees to have Zimbabwean citizenship. So the refugee problem is regarded as a temporary problem.
RZ: When the refugees come into the country, they have different stories to tell. Some have emotional scars that need special attention. What does the camp and its partners offer the refugees in terms of pyscho-social support?
JM: Like I alluded to above, we have a concoction of strategies to provide hope to the products of human tsunamis. We have Social Workers providing counselling services. We also have community based protection mechanisms through peer counsellors, child protection committees and health workers. All these assist us in service delivery to deal with the pre-flight, flight and post flight problems affecting refugees.
RZ: Please tell us about your plans for World Refugee Day. How will the day be celebrated and what are the refugees’ hopes and plans for the future?
JM: This year’s World Refugee Day will be celebrated in style, four weeks after hosting the World Red Cross Day. The theme of this year is, ‘Take A Step With Refugees’. It calls for action, for people to remember the sacrifices by refugees who traverse miles and miles walking for peace, running away from architects of conflicts and bloodshed.
The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Dr Sekai Nzenza will be the Guest of Honour. She will be accompanied by other ministry officials, provincial leadership, district leadership as well as partners from the UN family, international and national non-governmental organisations. Guests will have an appreciation of the refugee programme through briefing on the State of the Refugee Programme and visits to selected sites. After this they will then interact with the refugee community at the main event. The celebrations will be interposed by entertainment from various groups representing different nationalities in the camp. Different nationalities will showcase their cultures through music and dances.
As usual refugees will expect assurances from the highest office through the Minister that their stay in Zimbabwe is sacrosanct. They also expect assurance that their children will continue to enjoy their rights to education and related issues. They also expect to hear the Government of Zimbabwe’s commitment to address the challenges they are facing such as shelter problems. Above all, they will also expect to hear solutions to their problems especially durable solutions to address their refugee status.
World Refugee Day is a day to showcase what we have achieved together with refugees. We will be showing our solidarity with our fellow brothers. It is a day to affirm and confirm that refugees will never walk alone.
RZ: In your view, what needs to be done to ensure that Zimbabwe continues to provide the best services to refugees and give them back their dignity?
JM: There is need to mainstream disaster risk reduction in our programming due to the perennial threats from Save River and stray wild animals from Save Conservancy.
We also need to adopt a robust strategy to absorb the youthful population into vocational skills programmes to avoid the current situation. If this constituent is left idle there is a risk of having the population developing negative coping mechanisms such as substance abuse, prostitution, early marriages, unwanted pregnancies.
