Alert

South Africa 1/07

Vulnerable Zimbabweans in South Africa

Geneva, November 15, 2007

Deteriorating economic conditions over the last two years have had an increasingly devastating impact on the general population of Zimbabwe. Vulnerable people, already struggling to make ends meet, have been hit hardest.

Some Zimbabweans have sought better livelihood opportunities and living conditions across the borders of South Africa and other neighboring countries. In particular in South Africa, the number of people crossing the border was initially not considered to be significant, however, since June and July of 2007 the number of people leaving Zimbabwe has dramatically intensified, numbering in the thousands every month.

Several factors have hastened the situation for people inside Zimbabwe. These include the impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, the effect that restructuring the agricultural sector has had on overall food security, and a massive unemployment rate, with some 80 percent of the population considered to be living under the poverty line. In September 2007, the inflation rate exceeded 7,000 percent. The country also saw one of the worst harvests in recent times, with the year officially designated as "Drought Year" by the government.

ACT member, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa Development Services - South Africa (ELCSA-DS), in coordination with the Lutheran Communion of Southern Africa (LUCSA), has been monitoring the situation as it developed over the past few months, and undertook an initial assessment of the situation in North West, Gauteng and Limpopo provinces.

ELCSA-DS reports that one of the complexities of the emergency is that Zimbabweans are often integrated within South African communities, making their needs and identities hard to determine. However, with the help of host communities, Zimbabwean community networks and the churches themselves, vulnerable Zimbabweans were identified in the following areas:

North West province, total number of Zimbabweans by village: Mafekeng: 457 persons Mmabatho: 495 persons Zeerust: 1,159 persons

Limpopo province, total number of Zimbabweans by village: Musina: 1,526 persons Louis Trichardt: 817 persons Vhembe: 938 persons

Gauteng province, total number of Zimbabweans by village: Pretoria: 510 persons Krugersdorp on the West Rand: 350 persons

During their initial assessment, ELCSA-DS found that some Zimbabweans are housed in the back yards of overcrowded homes and that some are expected to pay rent. Others are sleeping under trees next to roads or on open fields on farms with no cover or protection. In urban areas, many are sleeping at the railway station or on the street. Also, the Methodist church in Johannesburg is housing some the those without housing.

ELCSA-DS will continue to assess, through local churches and some of the established Zimbabwean community networks, and begin planning an appropriate humanitarian response. The potential response will primarily be focused on particularly vulnerable women and children. Initial assistance could include food packages, non-food items and basic sanitation and hygiene requirements. A Rapid Response Fund Request or ACT appeal will likely be submitted to the ACT Coordinating Office (CO) in the coming days.

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ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.