Churches oppose deportation of Namibian refugees
Tefo Pheage | Wednesday January 6, 2016 13:18
The mainline churches’ organisation says a Tripartite Commission Report for the Go-and-See Come-and-Tell Mission, on which the repatriation decision was based, was left incomplete and aborted. The churches were part of the Botswana government and UNHCR mission in June and July, 2015 which sought to establish whether Namibia was safe for the refugees to return.
On Monday, members of the BCC were at the Lobatse High Court in support of the refugees’ application to halt their possible deportation. The court temporarily halted the deportation, which was a possibility after the Namibians’ refugee status expired on December 31.
BCC secretary general, Reverend Mosweu Simane, said the refugees’ fears of persecution and reprisals in Namibia could not be overlooked as the Mission’s report was yet to be finalised.
“Like other stakeholders and interested parties we also await the report to agree or disagree with the government. Thus far, it has not yet been availed,” he said.
Simane said the refugees had approached the BCC for backing and this had already been made as a resolution of the organisation’s Mahalapye General Assembly. “We had made a resolution to support them in anyway possible as a vulnerable group,” he said.
The BCC secretary general said their relationship with refugees started in the 1970s when the Botswana Council of Refugees was formed.
“We were coordinating the commitee at that time and that enhanced our work with refugees. “First and foremost people have to understand our enduring relatioship with refugees in order to understand our position. “Apart from the fact that we feel that somethings were not done properly, we come a long way with refugees and we have always been their support structure in times of need,” Simane said.
He added that, “When the Caprivi refugees arrived, UNHCR introduced them to us. We have been as running their education programme from primary to tertiary level”. The court is expected to provide reasons for its ruling on February 26.