WATCH | Zimbabweans plead for protection at PMB camp
By Wednesday, the number had increased further as Malawian nationals also began arriving after the closure of their own temporary camp.
Zimbabwean nationals who have returned to the makeshift refugee camp near Havelock Road in Pietermaritzburg are pleading for urgent humanitarian assistance and police protection after municipal security gave them two hours to vacate the site on Wednesday.
The order comes just a day after a large-scale voluntary repatriation programme saw more than 10 buses transport Zimbabwean nationals back to their home country on Tuesday.
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One of the camp’s leaders, who declined to be named, told The Witness that the repatriation operation had gone smoothly and that everyone who had registered to return home eventually boarded the buses.
However, he said the camp began filling up again on Wednesday as Zimbabwean women with children and other men arrived seeking refuge, saying they had fled their homes after fearing violence linked to the ongoing anti-illegal immigration protests.
On Tuesday, The Witness reported that more than 3,000 Zimbabwean nationals were being sheltered at the site.
By Wednesday, the number had increased further as Malawian nationals also began arriving after the closure of their own temporary camp.
The displaced foreign nationals say they have nowhere else to go and are appealing to humanitarian organisations to provide food, shelter and other necessities.
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They have also appealed to law enforcement agencies to ensure their safety, saying they fear becoming targets of violence if they are forced to leave the camp without alternative accommodation.
The Msunduzi Municipality confirmed that it was aware of the camp but said the repatriation process had been co-ordinated by the Zimbabwean Embassy.
Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla said there was an estimates 400 people of Zimbabwean nationality who are at Pietermaritzburg site.
“We can safely announce that the embassy of Zimbabwe, together with law enforcement agencies and ourselves, is working on ensuring that they are moving as before, buses are on site to take them away” Thebolla said.
The mayor confirmed that no new camps will be opened in Pietermaritzburg.
By Wednesday afternoon, uncertainty remained over where the displaced foreign nationals would go once the two-hour deadline expired.
