18 Mar 2021

Five Zimbabwean refugees have served the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security with a statutory notice challenging the ongoing process of taking them back to their homeland.

The ministry‘s director refugee management and welfare Ms Thobo Letlhage revealed this in an interview yesterday.

She however said the five, all males,  had not yet registered their case with the High Court.

Ms Letlhage said the challenge did not affect the process of repatriating those who had registered.

The process of voluntary repatriation, which commenced in December 2019 but was halted due to the outbreak of COVID-19, saw the first batch of 48  refugees  leaving Dukwi Refugee Camp on Tuesday.

Ms Letlhage said those who had registered for voluntary repatriation had been divided into four groups with the last groups  expected to leave by Monday and Wednesday next week.

A second group was scheduled to leave yesterday.

She said one person who was supposed to leave with the first batch on Tuesday tested positive for COVID-19 and therefore could not travel.

Those who would not have left under the current arrangement would be involuntarily repatriated through a process involving the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

  The repatriation exercise follows  government’s decision in partnership with Zimbabwe and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that conditions that made the  refugee flee their homeland had since ceased hence they should go back home.  

Ms Letlhage said with the departure of the Zimbabwean community, the camp would be left with about nationals of nine countries among them Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan. 

She said the situation in those countries would continue to be monitored and assessed and their nationals repatriated when conditions improved. Ends