Africa-Press – South-Africa. Refugees who were evicted from outside the Pretoria offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last Friday are now living in an old school building in Bronkhorstspruit, between Pretoria and Emalahleni.
The group of 33 families had been camped outside the UNHCR offices for the past year. The refugees refuse to return to their country of origin and do not want to live in South Africa.
An eviction order was granted by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in August 2022 and the eviction was finally carried out on 21 April.
According to the UNHCR, only 15 people have taken up the option to be housed at Lindela.
The others chose to live on the streets with their children and belongings until Sophia Williams of Mountains and Valleys Ministries offered the refugees shelter in one of their old schools.
The old school building in Bronkhorstspruit is remote, with four rooms but no electricity, and only two toilets which are not in a good state. There is one water tap a few metres away. The refugees have little food, but they prefer to be there than in Lindela.
Some families are yet to be reunited after being separated during the eviction.
Williams told GroundUp the arrangement at the old school building would only be temporary and another solution would be found.
Williams added her ministry offered accommodation to homeless people and rehabilitation to drug users, but with limited resources.
The refugees have also received support from the University of Pretoria and University of South Africa.
After arriving in Bronkhorstspruit, the refugees said, they were visited by police who threatened to arrest them. But Williams added the problem has since been resolved.
Omari Mwingwa Kikuna said he was yet to be reunited with his wife and three children from whom he was separated during the eviction.
Mwingwa, originally from Manyima in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was previously separated from his family for two years in 2019 when he was taken to Kgosi Mampuru prison after the refugee protests.
He had been attacked at a shop he worked at during the 2019 xenophobic attacks in Sunnyside, Pretoria.
Mwingwa said he still hoped to be taken to another country with his family.
Felix Kitofo, a father of four, also wants to leave.
He said he had lost everything during the xenophobic attacks.
“The UNHCR has failed to help us resettle in another country.”
Kitofo added his relatives had been killed in the DRC.
Bibichie Lukolo has a three-months-old baby.
She said living without electricity was hard, but added she was grateful not to be at Lindela with her baby.
UNHRC spokesperson Laura Padoan said: “We are in regular communication with Lawyers for Human Rights who are in touch with the refugees.
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