Login to Change.org
Use Facebook to connect with friends and mobilize your social network.
Create an Account
Alfred Mafunu
Chokwe, Mozambique
Very analytic, especially on issues that affect society, and development oriented.
Recent Activity
-
Alfred commented on the petition |Human life must always be value. The world should always condemn blood shed.
-
Alfred signed the petition |
-
Alfred signed the petition | -
Alfred commented on the petition |
Dictators should never be allowed to abuse people's rights. Zimbabwean problems should be addressed as well.
-
Alfred signed the petition | -
Alfred started the petition |
-
Alfred signed the petition |
-
Alfred started the petition |
-
Alfred commented on the article |
The Plight of Zimbabweans living in Mozambique. If people want to know how it pains to be an illegal immigrant they have to ask Zimbabweans. It is only now that people came to know many Zimbabweans were forced to live illegally in the neighboring countries because of the harsh conditions that existed in the country between 2000 and 2001. There was no way in which they would go back home as most of them were facing persecution because of they support for the opposition party, The Movement for Democratic Party [MDC]. The Government of national unity [GNU] came as a lifesaver for many who had to abandon their comfortable home for filthier places in other countries. While this GNU has improve in the freedom of the people there are many who are suffering in the neighboring countries like Mozambique where the writer has talked to a number of Zimbabweans. Mozambique has been a safe home to many Zimbabweans who ran away from the cruelty of their government. One regrets that these people have to face the same problems in their endeavor to go back to their home country. Their problems vary. The first problem is that they don’t have enough money to take them back home. This writer had a chance to talk to a 29-year old single mother, Chipo, who said that she is surviving on an average income of 35 meticals per day that she gets from piece jobs that she does in the farms which surround Chokwe City and general cleaning that she carries out in the houses of local people. Asked why she doesn’t save that little she has to pay 10 meticals a night as rent for a plastic shelter that she calls home. She also needs food for her to survive. She said that she is better off than others who have brought their children. Rentals are paid per person per night and for those with children life is sometimes unbearable. ‘These people know very well that we are foreigners and we living here illegally,’ she said, ‘We have to pay so that they can guarantee our safe stay in their country.’ There are others who manage to raise the required amount that can take them back home but the situation is bad at the border where the immigration officers demand large amounts of money as penalty for overstaying in their country. The amount is beyond the reach of people who were only living from hand to mouth. If they try to avoid these officers they always face a similar or tougher situations with the Zimbabwean security that demand unaffordable amounts or face the wrath. ‘These guys can beat you up like they are beating a dog that has stolen meant for a special visitor’ said a man who only identified him as Mpositori, meaning Apostole. Many people that have been interviewed are grateful to the hospitality that they receiving from Mozambicans taking into account that in Botswana and South Africa one can’t walk around for the whole day besides being asked to produce an identity document. Mr. Museva who has lived in Mozambique for 7 years said one has to suffer the problems of being an illegal immigrant when he or she commits a crime. Many Zimbabwean in Mozambique proved to be hardworking and honesty hence they were allowed to core exist with the locals without hustles. He, however, agrees with Mpositor that the immigration officers at the border seldom that sympathetic. It is only the senior officers who tend to understand the Zimbabwean Situation and they usually say it’s Mozambique’s time to pay back for the hospitality they got from Zimbabwe during their civil war. Those to whom the writer talked to suggest that their home country in collaboration with the host countries should try by all means not to make life complicated for the already traumatized people. Everyone is aware that during the period 2000 to 2001 life in Zimbabwe was hell and many people had no other choice but to leave their homes to save their lives. Mozambique wasn’t giving refugee status to Zimbabweans but created a situation where these people stayed in their country without being tormented. One feels the same needs to be done when these people want to go back unless they are saying it is not yet safe for them to regress. There are many people whose children have not been studying for at least two years and they need to ensure that they continue with their education but their hopes are shuttered due to lack of funds. It is the writer’s opinion that Save the Children, UNICEF, Red Cross, and other Charity Organizations have to look at the plight of Zimbabwean Children in Mozambique and assist them in any way in order for them not to lose an opportunity to study. The whole world knows that it’s the right of these children to be educated. If these children are not educated they can easily be exposed to another school of life that can be a disgrace or a danger to the society. Many young girls are said to be engaging in the business of prostitution in the provinces of Tete, Manica and Gaza. One administrator who has lived in Zimbabwe during the Mozambican civil war said, ‘If these Charity organizations, from developed nations, fell that it is not yet time for the Zimbabweans to go back home, then, they can build schools for the children like what was done in Zimbabwe where schools like Chindunduma and Tongogara were built for Mozambican refugees.’ Considering that Mozambique is a Portuguese speaking country, it becomes difficulty for an adult student to follow the Portuguese instructed curriculum, hence the need for a school where the language of instruction will be English as in their home country. Apart from the plight of education, Zimbabweans who were most affected by the political crisis are the women. It is understood that women are vulnerable and each time they try to ask for assistance they are forced to pay back in a way that is immoral. These people need to be protected and assisted. Many Zimbabwean women in Mozambique are skilled people and if it’s true that the developed countries are still assessing the Government of National Unity, why not group up these people so as to come up with income generating projects which they can carry back home when it’s safe for them to go back. It is pity that Mozambique does not have refugee camps for these Zimbabweans, but it is true that there are many of them in the three provinces named above. Others are difficult to identify because they know they don’t have legal documents. One would conclude by saying that the above report is the plight of Zimbabweans living in Mozambique. It was not their wish to get into Mozambique illegally and they are asking for whoever with the powers to save them from this double tragedy. They plead for the right of their children to Education and should be protected by the law from being abused sexually. They need to participate in income generating projects which will see them getting on with a normal life as they go back home. Alfred Mafunu is a Zimbabwean teaching in Mozambique and participates in debates that are linked to Education, Human rights, community development and youth development. -
Alfred commented on the article |
I am sorry for those who lost their lives trying to save people's lives. My advice could be that humanitarian aid groups should always try to work close to community leaders to avoid this type of tragedy. Mozambique is a country with a very complex cultural structure. I, for one, am a foreigner working in the country and I came to know that all that I do should be explicitely clear and well understood by them. One has to learn their language and culture to be accepted and not suspected. Get me right, I am not justifying their action. What they did is a disgrace and can lead to bad publicity about a country which depents a lot on donor funding. The government must be quick to put the culprits to book before they think that they are the law.
