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‘Refugees included in census mapping’

Local News
BY KENNETH NYANGANI REFUGEES will now be included in the national development planning agenda after government extended its census mapping exercise to Tongogara refugee camp in Chipinge and other camps around the country ahead of the census next year. Tongogara Refugee Camp administrator Johannes Mhlanga on Saturday told the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) and […]

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

REFUGEES will now be included in the national development planning agenda after government extended its census mapping exercise to Tongogara refugee camp in Chipinge and other camps around the country ahead of the census next year.

Tongogara Refugee Camp administrator Johannes Mhlanga on Saturday told the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) and journalists of the new development during a tour of the camp.

Mhlanga said refugees in the country had all along been sideline in national development programmes, including the National Development Strategy (NDS 1), which government is currently implementing.

ZimStats has introduced a census mapping exercise in the camp that houses refugees from almost 15 countries.

“We have a total of 15 000 refugees at Tongogara Refugee Camp and 4 837 households. In terms of distribution, 74,6% of the population is from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), while 10% are nationals from Mozambique and 4,2% are from Burundi,” Mhlanga said.

“We also have minority countries in the camp that constitute 3,2%, which are refugees from Rwanda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan, among others.

“As you are also aware, government cannot cater for the services of the refugees alone. We have other development partners, who are also helping us such as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, World Vision, Child Line, and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, among others.”

Mhlanga added: “The objective of the government is to provide comprehensive services to the refugees that are sustainable and, therefore, government has made a commitment towards the inclusion of refugees in national development programmes.”

He said this would ensure that all issues affecting refugees are included in the country’s policies.

“Previously, they were not included in national and provincial planning, but now they are going to be included, and we are happy with the initiative.”

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