Hundreds of Zimbabwean refugees evicted after violent clashes

By Tichaona Sibanda
22 March 2006

Violent tribal clashes between Zimbabwean refugees that left at least two of them dead in South Africa last week have forced the Methodist church in that country to evict more than 300 Zimbabweans, who were housed in their churches in central Johannesburg.

A meeting convened in Johannesburg on Tuesday night by the Methodist Central Church resolved to evict all refugees following clashes between Shonas and Ndebeles housed at the churches.

Savious Kwinika, a Zimbabwean journalist who attended the meeting on Tuesday, said despite pleas from Bishop Paul Verryn not to evict the refugees, other church members remained adamant that they should leave.

The crisis for the refugees was compounded on Tuesday when a group of South African women demonstrated outside the church demanding their removal.

‘The violent clashes have not helped the situation for Zimbabweans and the two murders were the final straw for most church members who thought the area was degenerating into a lawless neighbourhood,’ said Kwinika.

The clashes last week were sparked by disagreements over the distribution of clothes to the refugees. The situation got worse when the argument split along tribal lines, sparking fiery clashes that claimed the lives of the two refugees.