Refugee thought he was safe in SA

Six years later, after threats and jail, his fate hangs in the balance, writes ‘UN officials have stepped over the refugees sleeping outside their offices for two years’

from Zimbabwe. They know they were obligated to give them shelter while they were awaiting the outcome of their resettlement hearings. The family did stay with the Jesuits – NGO partners with the UNHCR – but when the Jesuits ran out of funding why didn’t the UNHCR provide the family with alternative shelter? Why did they merely watch them sleeping on the street outside their building?

Six years and a litany of mistakes later, it would seem that the UNHCR is now trying to cover up its mistakes, trying to cast aspersions on the integrity of the family, even suggesting that “they only wanted to be resettled to the US.” James Biamungu never asked to be resettled anywhere specific, “as a refugee I have to be grateful for wherever I am settled – anywhere other than the pavement, Zimbabwe or the DRC,” he told me. He claims that it was the UNHCR resettlement officer who told him at the conclusion of his hearing that they would try to find place to resettle his family in Australia, the US, or Canada.

Now that this case may have taken a positive turn with the release of the parents from detention into the care of their lawyer on Friday night, the situation needs to be resolved once and for all. The local Pretoria churches will only be able to care for the family for so long, but the longer term solution is the responsibility of the UNHCR.