Refugees fear hostility on return to homes

“They say we must leave this camp, but we don’t know how to start.”
That’s the quagmire faced by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) refugee, Labwe Kabiriko (38), who has been a resident of the Isipingo interim camp for four weeks.
With a wry smile, he proudly describes the business he built up in the 13 years he’s been living in Isipingo.
“I was making a good living with my salon and I could provide for my wife and two children,” he said. “Now my shop is damaged – they even shattered the mirrors on the walls and looted everything I had.
They say we must leave (the camp), but the situation in Isipingo is not good yet. When we walk down the street the people shout “So, you are still here”.”
Labwe paints a different picture to the one the city has airbrushed to the media.
“Some foreign nationals have returned peacefully and were welcomed by their communities, while some have resumed their business operations at the community’s request and have been running without any incidents of violence,” said eThekwini head of communications, Tozi Mthethwa on Friday, 24 April.
eThekwini Mayor, James Nxumalo said: “The positive reception the foreign nationals received is a clear demonstration that the attacks were orchestrated by criminal elements and is not the view of the majority of the people in the city.”
From housing a maximum of about 1,000 people in the Isipingo camp last week, the number has now dropped considerably. About 800 Malawians and Mozambicans from the three interim shelters in Phoenix, Isipingo and Chatsworth were returned to their countries of origin and it is mostly refugees from DRC and Burundi who now remain.
These are the people who will not be returned home and they have no option but to resume life in a hostile environment.
This time the Sun was forced to conduct interviews outside the camp, as the city has now barred journalists from entering, as it says the wrong picture has been painted of life in the camps. But no amount of colour could possibly rose-tint the canvas to mask the grey desperation that Labwe and many of his countrymen now face with their livelihoods in tatters and no assistance forthcoming from the city.
“We have no plans to re-open our businesses. The landlords say we still have to pay our rent, even though our businesses have been closed for more than a month now. I don’t know what I am going to do,” said Labwe.
Isipingo PR councillor, Jaco Pienaar thanked the Toti churches for their generous assistance with several donations to the camp, and Sweetwaters Church’s youth group who visited the camp to read and play soccer with the youngsters.