Words by Matt Vend and Emma Kelly
Images by Matt Vend and Luke Molver
Roughly 3 months ago when the xenophobic crisis in Durban
and across South Africa took place, a refugee crisis was once again created. According to one of these refugees, after the
first attacks happened in 2008 the government of South Africa told them nothing
like this would happen again.
Then in April of 2015 it history repeated itself. The city
is now trying to close its last operating refugee camp (Westcliff Sports Ground
Chatsworth) on 30th of June 2015; this is according to Anicet Bigirimana, a 45
year Burundian man who has been living in South Africa for the past 9 years,
after the situation in his country became too dangerous because of civil war.
Birgirmana has 5 children living with him currently in the camp, one is still
in Burundi - he is unsure of her well-being. He also lost his wife in 2012.
This is his story:
“I passed through Tanzania and Malawi, but I found it wasn't
safe, so I continued on to Mocambique, where I found my friend who advised me
to go to South Africa. He thought it was the only one country in Africa in
which people from other countries could live peacefully without any problems. I
arrived in 2006 and I lived in peace. I had work at Umbilo Spar and saved to
bring my family from Burundi. Which was still at war, after that the trouble
started in 2008. I was a victim of xenophobia, stabbed, and we were displaced,
taking shelter at the Saint Eden Church for one month. The government decided
to re-integrate the people back into the communities by guaranteeing us that it
wouldn’t happen again.
In 2012 I lost my wife after she delivered a baby boy at
Addington Hospital. I was shocked. She was admitted on 3-10-2012. On 4-10-2012
she was taken to the theatre for a caesarean. I was so happy to see my wife
back from theatre with a baby boy!! On 5-10-2012 I got a phone call from the
hospital saying that I had to come urgently. I was far from Durban and had to
leave the truck in Empangeni, taking the taxi quickly. I heard bad news telling
me that my wife had passed away. When I asked the cause I did not get an
answer.
2015. Xenophobic attack took place again. It’s hard for me
to leave with 5 kids, without a job, no place to stay and no hope of finding a
job because I am not a citizen. I really need to leave this country. A lot of
discrimination and human rights violation has taken place twice now. Everyone
needs to enjoy life without interruption, we could just continue not to (have
to) start again each year.”
On the 27th of April 2015 (Freedom Day) a group of concerned
citizens decided to arrange a concert for the camp in hope of bringing some joy
into the displaced foreign nationals lives even for a day. Since then Anicet
says that not much help has come from government, but the UN has recently
stepped in. “The UN is now giving us a
small bit of money R2000 for two months but this isn’t enough to rent a small
flat and I have 5 children. I used to run a restaurant in Canada Road near
Dalton Hostel, but that was destroyed in 2008 by the xenophobic attack. Then we
were promised by the South African government that this wouldn’t happen
again. Since then I have been driving a
truck to try and support my kids. I have been in South Africa 9 years and I
still don’t have refugee status. I’ve applied but I’m still just here as an
asylum seeker so I have very little rights. We have nowhere to go because
Burundi is at war.”
It doesn’t look like the situation in Burundi will be
improving as more violence erupts following president Pierre Nkurunziza seeking
a third term in office. Burundi's vice-president has fled the country, saying
he felt threatened after opposing President Pierre Nkurunziza's third-term bid.
This is all in the wake of an ethnic
civil war which took place in 2005.
Anicet is a qualified mechanical engineer and ran his own
business in Burundi before the civil war and before fleeing to South Africa
seeking refuge. He is also a musician,
and used to play with fellow musicians from Burundi in Durban often.
He admits that the accommodation at the camp isn’t bad and
there are clean running toilets, but police and local government haven’t helped
in reintegrating them into South African society or finding them a new place to
relocate. Unfortunately going home for people like Anicet isn’t an option.
He also highlighted the fact that the police haven’t treated
the refugees in the Chatsworth camp accordingly. He also believes that the
recent death of former President Nelson Mandela and the highly controversial
speech of King Goodwill Zwelithini (which expressed disdain for foreign
nationals) were clear reasons for recent violence. Anicet says on some days
they don’t eat unless donations are given to them and he does not know what
will happen to him and his 5 children come June 30th. The government has also
urged the UN to step down from the re-integration efforts because they feel it
is encouraging more people to return to the camp.
The Chatsworth Refugee Camp has now been taken over by the
military. This was posted onto the Durbanites Against Xenophobia Facebook page
on the 23rd of June ‘Today the army have taken over the camp and its 190
residents. This means nobody (i.e. no civilians) goes in or out. They will manage all aspects
of the camp and the aim is to close the camp and remove all residents in the
near future”.
“I had to leave my
living place where we had all of a sudden become intimidated, unliked,
criticized, threatened, and being asked “when will you go back to your country?”
Overcome with emotion he pauses. “I HAD to leave my house with my family
because we were not safe, taking shelter along with thousands of others at
Chatsworth Refugee Camp”. A few times a week Anicet commuted between the
Refugee Camp in Chatsworth to the three bedroom house he rented in Claire Estate
(where he rented one of the rooms from a local – or in his own words, “a
citizen”) - only for changes of clothing and to charge phones. He kept his
family sheltered at the Refugee Camp out of fear for their lives from what they
had experienced and been subjected to. He could no longer work as he was
threatened there too.
About 2 months into their stay in the camp, he arrived
“home” to find his entire household, everything they owned burnt. “They took everything outside and burnt it.
Everything, including appliances, clothing, toys, books, my children’s school uniforms
– EVERYTHING! Imagine if we were inside
still…we would be dead now. As
foreigners being killed, burned alive…to be re-integrated in communities does
not mean that our name and our documentation of refugees has changed. What I
have been facing in my country and what I am facing here is the same. What can
I say about the closure of the shelter? The word of God gives me hope. We
cannot continue to focus on what is happening... God knows where I am and he
knows what I need, and I trust that he will provide.Thank you.”
Stacy, Anicet’s 11 year old daughter speaks of some of their
experiences before going to the Refugee Camp. “They almost burnt Ronny” she
whispers. Ronny is her 8 year old
brother. “He went to the shops to spend his pocket-money, just to buy, like
junk, you know… We didn’t know this xenophobia was happening in our community.
They took him and put him in a tyre, poured petrol on him and if Daddy hadn’t
of been coming home from work at that moment and stopped it… Ronny would have
died. He would have been burnt alive! “Daddy shouted at them “No, stop, this is my son!” They shouted
at him “he doesn’t belong here, he is a
foreigner.” Anicet and his friend
managed to free Ronny before they set him alight. “Ronny didn’t ever leave the house again
after that, she says quietly. Until we went to the Refugee camp. When I was in the street they were throwing
stones at me, telling me “Go home foreigner, you don’t belong here. Then they came into our house and pushed us
out. They were shouting at us “This house
doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to us, go back to your country!” When Ronny went with his father and they
discovered their burnt belongings a few months after having been in the refugee
camp.
In the next few days or weeks it looks there will be no
place for people like Anicet and his family to go. How will they be integrated
back into South African society with so many people trying to get them out of
the country? Do you think there is anywhere people like Anicet and his family
can find a place that they can call home?
Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked
country in the African Great Lakes region of East Africa, bordered by Rwanda to
the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo to the west.
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