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Zimbabwe: Number of Displaced People 'Extremely Worrying'
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SW Radio Africa (London)
4 July 2008
Posted to the web 5 July 2008
Alex Bell
The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum said on Friday the South African government needs to take responsibility not only for the number of Zimbabweans fleeing into the country, but also for the growing number of displaced Zimbabweans - a figure that is now estimated at a quarter of a million since the March elections.
The forum's Gabriel Shumba told Newsreel the figure, while merely an estimate, is "extremely worrying" and indicative of how bad the situation in Zimbabwe has become. He said the bare minimum of these refugees have shelter and food, but tens of thousands more are left "homeless and defenceless".
Shumba said he is deeply concerned that the trend of Zimbabweans entering South Africa illegally has changed. He said individuals used to cross the border, to provide for their families back home, but now Shumba said "entire families are arriving in South Africa, with nowhere else to go, because their homes and homestead have been burnt and their lives threatened".
Shumba added that there are fears among refugees in South Africa that Zimbabwean government thugs are "pretending to be victims of violence to get help in South Africa, merely to track down real victims". He said the situation is "critical and so overwhelming".
Shumba said the South African government now has a responsibility to protect not only the Zimbabweans in exile in its country, but also the thousands of people displaced by politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe. He said it is "self evident that South Africa has as much to do with the crisis as Mugabe" and it is time for them to step in.
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Shumba was among a group of speakers at a prayer meeting for Zimbabwe at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg on Friday. Zimbabwean musicians also gathered at the church and they included some of the prominent protest artists whose albums have been banned in Zimbabwe because their lyrical content describes the suffering and wishes of ordinary Zimbabweans.
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