Refugees flee Mozambique strife for SA

Mozambican refugees fleeing tension and skirmishes between the governing party, Frelimo, and the rebels, Renamo, are trickling into KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

In the past few years, thousands of refugees have been leaving the Southern African country and heading to Zimbabwe and SA.

As a result of the influx, Zimbabwe, which hosts 17,500 refugees, asked the international community for $10.9m in aid last week to help feed and resettle thousands of Mozambicans.

Some of these refugees pass through SA’s porous border in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Sam Sithole, who operates a taxi between the northern KwaZulu-Natal town of Manguzi and the Kosi Bay border, said he had ferried a number of Mozambican refugees in the past few months.

“They say they are scared that violence between the government and the rebels will escalate.

“Some say they have felt the government troop’s wrath as they went out on the campaign to find Renamo rebels and people who support them. It is a very sad situation. Some are living in northern KwaZulu-Natal and others move inland.”

Yasmin Rajah, head of the Durban-based Refugee Social Services, said some refugees were now living in Durban among relatives.

“There has been a traditional migration between SA and Mozambique and there is a large community of Mozambicans living in and around Durban. Most cannot get refugee status because the backlog at Home Affairs is huge. Many live here as illegal immigrants and seek work as illegals.”

Ana Machiana, from central Mozambique, said she had tried to seek assistance from Home Affairs to secure legal refugee status for her and her two children, to no avail.

She said her husband had already been living and working in SA and sent money home. But when the tension between Renamo and Frelimo escalated near her home, they and many of their neighbours fled.

THEY ARE SCARED VIOLENCE BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND REBELS WILL ESCALATE

Although a truce between the parties had been holding since December 2016, intermittent skirmishes between Renamo and government forces have been taking place since 2014, especially in the northern city of Nampula and in the Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique.

Renamo, under the leadership of Afonso Dhlakama, was brought into electoral politics as a result of the 1992 peace accord.

Seeing his party’s waning performance at the polls, Dhlakama relocated to Nampula, where Renamo had long had solid support, and redrafted his former rebel troops.

The latest dispute revolved around Renamo’s demand that it be allowed to appoint governors in provinces where it held a majority.