Shelter Centre

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) - Switzerland Pretoria (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation will host the 10th annual regional seminar on international humanitarian law from 4 to 7 May in Pretoria.

Date: 17 Nov 2009
Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks

JOHANNESBURG Friday, April 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Almost a decade into the Zimbabwean crisis, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs is introducing a permit that could regularize the status of thousands of undocumented migrants and put an end to mass deportations as a first step to a long-awaited new policy on a thorny issue.

JOHANNESBURG Thursday, April 09, 2009 (IRIN) - Zimbabwean migrants living in and around the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa, are to be moved into shelters next week, according to Daniel Ramarumo, a local government spokesperson.

JOHANNESBURG Tuesday, June 02, 2009 (IRIN) - South Africa's adoption of a "liberal immigration policy" for Zimbabweans is placing greater burdens on the already stretched health care system, the international relief NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said on 2 June in Johannesburg.

JOHANNESBURG Friday, March 06, 2009 (IRIN) - A one-stop 72-hour service for undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in an enclosed military base outside the South African town of Musina, near Zimbabwe's border, could ease tensions and problems around the issue, according to a senior UN official.

MUSINA Friday, May 01, 2009 (IRIN) - To the untrained eye, the human tide surging through the South African border town of Musina is just that: a mass of people leaving behind Zimbabwe's collapsed economy to seek job opportunities and a better life, or refuge in a neighbouring country.

MUSINA, Thursday, April 30, 2009 (IRIN) - The South African border town of Musina is bracing for an increase in migrants as faith in Zimbabwe's new unity government wanes and the lure of a new permit system specifically tailored for Zimbabweans makes it easier for them to work and study in South Africa.

Source: IRIN Temporary shelters set up for foreigners displaced by xenophobic violence earlier in 2008 have to close, said a South African provincial government spokesman.

Source: IRIN An interim order by South Africa's Constitutional Court could keep temporary shelters open for the foreigners displaced by xenophobic violence earlier this year - or it could leave more than 4,000 camp residents out on the street.

Source: IRIN The safety camps set up in Gauteng Province to house victims displaced in South Africa's xenophobic attacks were due to close on 15 August, but an application for urgent interim relief brought by a small group of foreign nationals, due to be heard by the Constitutional Court on 18 August, has given them a reprieve.

Source: UNHCR Friday, August 15, is the deadline for closing six temporary shelters set up in South Africa's Gauteng province for foreigners displaced in recent xenophobic attacks. Gloria is one of many asylum seekers who don't know where to go next. JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, August 14 (UNHCR) – As the deadline draws closer for the closure of temporary shelters set up by the Gauteng provincial government in South Africa for foreigners displaced in recent xenophobic attacks, Gloria*, a Zimbabwean asylum seeker, is still unsure where she will go. The Rifle Range temporary shelter in Johannesburg, which has been her home for the last two months, is expected to be shut down tomorrow. Authorities say all six temporary shelters housing some 6,000 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Gauteng province will be dismantled on August 15. "I have sleepless nights thinking about this," Gloria confides. "I just don't know what I'll do come Friday." Spare of frame and fragile looking, she has been referred to a local hospital to seek medical attention for depression. Her current state is a far cry from her life of affluence before Zimbabwe's political and economic turmoil. Her husband's two university degrees and well-paying job kept her and their two sons accustomed to a comfortable lifestyle. But he was also an activist for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and was murdered in 2005. Since then, Gloria has had to fend for her young family and HIV-positive mother. They fled to South Africa and initially stayed at a women's shelter in Johannesburg. But they overstayed their welcome and Gloria was driven into the arms of an abusive partner. Her two-year-old daughter is what's left of the liaison, which she now puts down to an attempt at finding solace and security as a respite to the daily slog of ensuring a roof over her family's head and food on their table. "Having to start (life) over in a new country, with no place to stay, moving to a shelter when I was the madam of my own house back in Zimbabwe, is like losing everything including my identity," she says. "Now I'm just a number on an asylum-seeker permit." The UN refugee agency in Pretoria is supporting all asylum and undocumented Zimbabweans like Gloria who would like to reintegrate into local communities through an assistance programme implemented by its partner, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). The non-governmental organization is conducting individual and family needs assessment exercises aimed at providing limited financial support to refugees and asylum seekers. Gloria has been granted 1,500 Rand (over US$192) under this programme. "The assistance is for a period of two months, after which we expect people to be on the road to re-establishing themselves and their livelihoods," explains Irfan Adil, UNHCR's Associate Programme Officer. "However, the most vulnerable can still approach our partners for a re-assessment of their situations and based on its outcome, may be eligible for further assistance." Gloria understands that she and her family cannot remain permanently at the temporary shelter. The provincial authorities made it clear right at the outset that these shelters were temporary. "UNHCR provided us shelter and the government has fed us for two months. It is time to move on but I just need a little more time get my plan in place," she says desperately. With no options left, Gloria intends to visit her local pastor to ask him to place her sons in the church's boys' home just until she can find a place for all of them to be together again. "That will be very difficult as my eldest son, who turns 13 this year, blames me for our predicament," she remarks. "He doesn't realize that the direction our lives have taken is the result of the political situation back home." Like many Zimbabweans abroad, Gloria is hopeful that the power-sharing talks currently underway between ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front) and the opposition MDC in Zimbabwe will bring peace and stability to her homeland. "I miss home terribly," she says, "we all do." Even when she and her family eventually return to Zimbabwe, Gloria knows that life will be difficult as she will have to start from scratch. These are the thoughts that help her through some of her most difficult moments, but right now she is forced to put aside any dreams of returning home – tomorrow is only a few hours away. * Name changed for protection reasons By Pumla Rulashe
in Johannesburg, South Africa More . . .

• UNHCR at work in:
  • South Africa
  • Zimbabwe

Friday, August 15, is the deadline for closing six temporary shelters set up in South Africa's Gauteng province for foreigners displaced in recent xenophobic attacks. Gloria is one of many asylum seekers who don't know where to go next.

Date: 01 Aug 2008
Source: ZimOnline

Date: 17 Jul 2008
Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks

Source: IRIN Police stormed a refugee camp today in southern Johannesburg to release four security guards held hostage by foreign nationals displaced by the recent xenophobic violence in South Africa.

Date: 23 Jun 2008
Source: Brookings Institution

South Africa: Urban disturbance DREF Operation No. MDRZA002 Update ...
ReliefWeb (press release), Switzerland - 2 hours ago
The International Federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) is a source of un-earmarked money created by the Federation in 1985 to ensure that ...