CAPE TOWN — “In Zimbabwe there is nothing,” a bewildered Zimbabwean refugee pleaded as she and her newborn triplets were fetched by Home Affairs from a Vredendal shelter. Report by Cape Times
Chipo Chiramba is being deported for being an illegal immigrant.
At the weekend, she pleaded for a family to take in her month-old triplets, saying she’d rather be separated from them than take them to Zimbabwe.
But on Monday, she climbed into a Department of Home Affairs 4×4 car with her babies for the long journey to the Beitbridge border post.
A group of Vredendal women crowded around the car to say goodbye to Chiramba and the babies they had cared for at the Heavenly Promise shelter.
Some pleaded with officials, others hugged the babies and whispered encouragement to Chiramba.
Chiramba, who comes from Gokwe in Zimbabwe, crossed alone into South Africa illegally in September and hitchhiked to Vredendal, where her brother and niece live in Polapark township.
She was five months pregnant when she crossed the border. In Vredendal she found employment as a farmworker and rented a shack in Polapark.
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Her triplets were born prematurely on December 14 last year. She was taken to the Vredendal clinic and transferred to Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town where she gave birth to Danuel, Danisa and Danielle.
She stayed in hospital for a few days before being transferred back to Vredendal clinic. Returning to her rented shack in mid-January, she found it had been let to someone else in her absence.
She moved in with her brother and niece, and the families crammed into two small tin and wood shacks. But the cramped living conditions allegedly led to a falling-out between family members and she was asked to leave. Chiramba spent last Wednesday (last week) at a community member’s house. The next day, she went to seek help at the Vredendal Police Station.
“The police were phenomenal,” said community member Elna Andrew.
“No one saw her as an undocumented immigrant. She felt that she was at home.”
The community rallied round, donating nappies, milk, baby food and clothes.
On Friday last week she moved to Heavenly Promise, a non-governmental organisation affiliated with Vredendal’s Catholic Church that provides a home for vulnerable mothers and children from the town’s poor communities.
But by now, Chiramba was on the radar of Home Affairs. On Monday morning they came to take her back to Zimbabwe. Community members are worried about how Chiramba would fare after crossing Beitbridge border post.
Hellen Ndlovu, Chiramba’s niece, lived next to Chiramba in Polapark township.
“She came here to work, due to lack of employment in Zimbabwe,” says Ndlovu.
She opened the door to the small shack where Chiramba slept on a thin mattress with her babies: “I don’t think there is anyone who can help her in Zimbabwe,” she said.
