Evicted Zimbabwe refugees sleeping outside church
By Tichaona Sibanda
20 November 2006

As many as 20 Zimbabwean refugees evicted from the Methodist church in Braamfontein last week are now camped outside the church premises.

Solomon Chikohwero, vice chairman of the Zimbabwe civic society organisation, said he saw women with little babies sleeping by the road side outside the church.

To make matters worse he said it was raining heavily on Monday and the evicted refugees were using cardboard boxes to cover themselves from the downpour. The mayor of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo, last week gave the refugees a 24-hour ultimatum to leave the church. Most of them had been sheltered in the church for more than a year.

‘This is an urgent issue which needs a solution quickly because we have women who are breastfeeding, sleeping with their babies out in the cold. When I visited the refugees they told me they had nowhere to go,’ said Chikohwero.

He said he would try to convene an urgent meeting of CSO’s in Johannesburg to work out a plan of addressing the situation. The refugees were part of a large group that was asked to leave following several clashes with the church community.

The issue came to a boiling point last week Sunday when church elders threatened to cut the power supply, water and other essential services to the building after accusing the refugees of being disobedient and violent. There were other allegations that there was prostitution going on at the church, claims that were vehemently dismissed by the refugees as baseless and unfounded.