South African woman stranded in Zimbabwe after following husband

A South African woman who travelled to Zimbabwe to reunite with her husband after anti-immigrant unrest in South Africa says she has been left stranded at a transit centre in Bulawayo after his family allegedly refused to accommodate her and their three children.

Charlotte Masemola (34), from Mpumalanga, arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday with her children, aged seven, six and two, hoping to rebuild her family after her husband returned to Zimbabwe in May following anti-immigrant violence in South Africa.

Instead, she now finds herself among scores of returnees being housed at the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) in Bulawayo's Njube suburb, which has been serving as a temporary reception and transit centre for Zimbabweans returning from South Africa.

Speaking through tears while being comforted by other women at the centre, Masemola said she made the journey after her husband assured her that it was safe to join him.

"My husband returned to Zimbabwe around May after fleeing the unrest. I was left alone with the children in South Africa and they kept asking about their father. We spoke and he told me it was okay for me to come, so I took advantage of the buses that were repatriating people because I had no money for transport," she said.

Masemola said she travelled using her South African identity document because she does not possess a passport.

Holding a handwritten note bearing her husband's telephone number, she said she informed immigration officials at every border post that she was a South African citizen.

She also revealed that she had been receiving South Africa's child support grants before leaving the country.

However, shortly after arriving in Zimbabwe, she said her husband informed her that his sisters, with whom the family had intended to stay, no longer wanted to accommodate her.

"He told me his sisters are where we were supposed to stay, but it seems the situation is not good. Before I came, I was communicating with one of his sisters and everything appeared to be fine," she said.

"He said he has been busy at work and that is why he hasn't come. I don't even know where he works. He only sent his brother, whom I knew from South Africa, to visit us here. He is the one who explained what was happening because I no longer have my phone."

Masemola said her mother had supported her decision to relocate to Zimbabwe in the hope that the family could reunite.

"My mother agreed that I should come because I have children with him. She said I could stay here for two weeks or a month and then return," she said.

The family's uncertain future has also affected her children's education.

She said officials from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education visited the transit centre to assist school-age children, but she was unable to enrol her eldest child because she has no permanent address.

"When I arrived here there were officials from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, but I could not register my child for school because I don't know where we are going to stay," she said.

Masemola had hoped to settle in Zimbabwe with her husband while maintaining ties with South Africa, where her mother and her 15-year-old child remain.

"I don't know if talking to the media will make things worse for me, but I don't know what else to do," she said.

Contacted for comment, Masemola's husband, who declined to be identified, confirmed that he intended to collect his wife and children from the transit centre.

"The challenge is that my family did not want to accept her. I have since asked my friends to help me look for a place for us to stay," he said.

He added that if he failed to secure accommodation in Bulawayo, he would relocate the family to his rural home in Gwanda.

The UCCSA transit centre has been accommodating Zimbabweans returning from South Africa following the anti-immigrant protests that erupted on 30 June. Churches, humanitarian organisations and Government agencies have been coordinating temporary shelter, food and transport for returnees while longer-term arrangements are made.

For now, Masemola and her three young children remain at the transit centre, uncertain when they will leave and where they will eventually call home.