Zimbabwe ready to receive victims of xenophobia

The state media reports that, the civil protection unit has put all structures in place in preparations for the arrival of Zimbabweans who are victims of South African xenophobia who are expected to return home through the Beitbridge border post.

The national director of civil protection unit, Madzudzo Pawadyira, told Chronicle that they were expecting part of the more than 1,500 Zimbabweans to start trickling in on Sunday.

"We've had initial arrangements to facilitate arrival and ferrying of people from Beitbridge to their respective places.

"We're working under the guidance of the ministry of Foreign Affairs and have already sent a team to Beitbridge to resuscitate the facilities where these people will be assisted" said Pawadyira.

He said they would continue engaging as stakeholders to ensure that the victims of xenophobia get all the necessary assistance upon their arrival in Zimbabwe.

It is understood that the victims will be transported to Zimbabwe by the South African Home Affairs department by road via the Beitbridge border post and will be handed over to the reception and support centre.

The reception centre has a carrying capacity of 1,000 people and can offer overnight accommodation to 600 adults and 40 children per day.

Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa Isaac Moyo said on Thursday that they had completed the identification and processing of repatriation documents for those who were left displaced during the ongoing attacks in Durban.

"Identification and the processing of repatriation documents have already been done. We visited a new holding camp which was set up in Werina on Wednesday night where we addressed 500 people and updated them on the kind of assistance we will offer and what we expect from them. As we speak now more Zimbabweans are still trickling into this camp" he said.

Moyo said the documentation of Zimbabweans improved after they beefed up their embassy staff on Tuesday.

"We have witnessed that there has been massive looting and ransacking in the houses belonging to our people. More people have come forward in need of assistance to recover the properties they left behind in the houses" said Moyo.

He said they were still to confirm if there were any Zimbabweans who were affected in Benoni area in Johannesburg. Moyo said the situation around Durban was relatively calm following an anti-xenophobia march by close to 4,000 people on Thursday morning who included religious groups and the Kwa-Zulu Natal provincial leaders.

He said the majority of Zimbabweans they had interacted with were interested in going back home.
Moyo said they were working with the host government to resolve the plight of undocumented South African women who were willing to travel with their Zimbabwean husbands.

According to South African police 100 people have been arrested in connection with the Durban disturbances.