Court victory leaves sour taste for refugees
Mbongeni Mguni | Thursday March 24, 2016 11:36
But as he sits across the table, speaking of the recent court victory against government, allowing the refugees to stay at Dukwi, Kakula softens his expression.
In suing government and challenging its efforts to repatriate them back to Namibia, the refugees know they have done something quite unAfrican. When Kakula, other leaders of the Caprivi rebels, their wives and children ran through the bushes of the Okavango in 1999, Botswana extended open arms of safety.
The refugees, who came in waves in the months following the August 1999 attack by the Caprivi Liberation Army on Namibian government facilities, were first housed in Mahalapye, then moved to Kagisong Centre in Gaborone before finally settling at Dukwi Refugee Camp.
In those early years, Botswana resisted pressure from Windhoek to surrender some of the refugees for treason trials in Namibia, heightening bilateral tensions at a time when the countries had just concluded a decade-long feud over ownership of Sedudu Island.
Through the years since then, Botswana has sheltered, fed and protected the refugees, with many more born inside the camp and registered as Batswana. The refugees have planted their gardens, initiated small businesses and even found piece jobs to sustain themselves.
They have built lives, educated their children and become grandparents, under the loving protection of successive Botswana governments.
That relationship, built over the years, is the reason Kakula’s face softens as he explains, almost sheepishly, how the refugees found themselves suing their host government in January, to prevent their repatriation to Namibia.
“We were running and Botswana gave us food and water to drink,” he says.
“At the end of the day, you take that person to court. Humanity could not allow that. “We are not comfortable with the way the situation went. We had no intention and for us, this was the last option. We were pushed against the wall and we did not have an option.
“That’s why we do not say that we won. There’s no reason to celebrate.”
Last Friday, Lobatse High Court acting judge, Jennifer Dube concretised her earlier interim order, which in effect makes it final that the plus-900 Namibian refugees at Dukwi cannot be repatriated forcefully to Namibia.
While the governments of Namibia and Botswana, as well as the UNHCR had said no threats stood in the way of the Namibian’s return, the refugees successfully convinced Dube that trouble was waiting across the Chobe River.
The argument over whether danger exists or not, has effectively been answered by Dube whose judgment means she believes a convincing argument has been made that threats do exist for any returning refugee. Or alternatively, she believes the respondents in the matter have not adequately provided evidence that threats do not exist.
Whichever way, however, the acting judge’s decision has opened new grey areas for the refugees and their new relationship with a host they are guilty of being unAfrican to.
What happens next? Does government simply grit its teeth and continue using considerable funds to support the refugees? Does it change tact and consent to their appeals for Botswana and SADC to help find a diplomatic solution to the Caprivi question? Or does government try another way of prising the refugees out of the camp? Also for how long will the refugees stay in Dukwi in the wake of this judgment?
Kakula does not have the answers either.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen. We believe the ministry will address us soon and they have their plans.
“However, this issue of repatriation, for us, was just an obstacle in the way of achieving our goal.
“We are pleading that since President Ian Khama is also chairman of SADC, we ask that this issue be taken to SADC for dialogue.
“It’s as though SADC only intervenes when there’s bloodshed. We are asking for a peaceful resolution to our issue.”
Last year, the refugees handed over a petition to SADC asking for its intervention. Thus far, they have not received a response and informed voices in regional politics and security say there’s a reason.
“The issue of the Namibian refugees at Dukwi is something of an embarrassment for SADC. At this point, the regional body feels it is unacceptable that citizens of one country could be refugees in a fellow member state.
“Dukwi is housing Namibians and Zimbabweans, whose Presidents sit across from Botswana at the SADC heads of state summits.
“It’s an awkward situation where one country is bearing the cost of caring for citizens from fellow SADC members,” one analyst says.
According to UNHCR figures, by September 2015, Dukwi housed 938 Namibians and 729 Zimbabweans, who together made up 58 percent of the refugees at the camp.
Even in the uncertainty, for now, life returns to normal for the Namibians at Dukwi. Children who were supposed to be going to school, now resume their classes, while those who had piece jobs at NGOs and others, also take up their tasks again.
“Our children who were supposed to go to school last year, were denied access because it was thought they would have returned to Caprivi by December 31,” Kakula says.
“Some of the refugees had piece jobs at the UN, Skillshare and others and their jobs were stopped because of the deadline.”
Life continues for now.