Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) Tuesday engaged Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa, David Hamadziripi in Pretoria over the plight of Zimbabweans living in that country.
The meeting was influenced by the recent events caused by anti-immigrant operations led by vigilante groups in South Africa that led to the brutal killing of Zimbabwean Elvis Nyathi last month in Diepsloot.
The meeting was also a follow up to submissions MRP presented in 2020 and 2021 to the Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa.
In an interview with CITE, MRP National Spokesperson, Velile Moyo, confirmed the development, saying the meeting was aimed at garnering support to help Zimbabweans who were vulnerable to xenophobic attacks.
“The MRP delegation who met with Ambassador Hamadziripi included me, our National Secretary of Foreign Affairs – Alphous Fuyana, the party’s South African charter chairperson, Bhekinhlalo Ndlovu and a party member, Milton Mahlangu, who is based in South Africa,” he said.
“The meeting was motivated by the realisation that Zimbabweans are now the most affected people when it comes to the xenophobic attacks because our people have made South Africa their home, having adopted and adapted to it.”
Moyo said they discussed several issues that centred on protection measures that can be put in place to safeguard the security of undocumented Zimbabweans living in South Africa.
“We also discussed protection assurance of one of the witnesses, the widow of Elvis, Mrs Nyathi and we sought assurance that justice will be served for the victim under the South African government in the trial and identification parade of the perpetrators who killed him,” he said.
The repatriation and measures put in place by the Zimbabwean government for those planning to return home were also discussed, said the MRP spokesperson, including protection and possible waivers for property belonging to those who might be returning home.
“This mostly applies to those Zimbabweans who have lived without tangible documentation for a period of time. We also spoke about mediation and facilitation for mostly undocumented people to get reparation certificates, asking the embassy to speed up these,” Moyo said.
“We also touched on political engagements, highlighting the ongoing marginalisation and displacement that has forced victims to be refugees in South Africa.”
The MRP spokesperson said throughout their engagement with Ambassador Hamadziripi, he expressed his willingness to look into the issues.
“Hamadziripi indicated he is ready to work with MRP in helping many Zimbabweans have documentation. The ambassador also told us he would reach out to the political government over the political issues we raised as he was incapacitated to answer to some of our concerns in his capacity as the ambassador,” Moyo noted.
“The ambassador also indicated that he submitted our previous demands accordingly to the Zimbabwean government through their channels but acknowledged oversight on his part, as he did not communicate with us after submitting those concerns.”
As a way forward, the MRP spokesperson claimed Ambassador Hamadziripi said he would arrange a meeting with the party and the consular general for further engagements, open lines of communication and operations in helping more Zimbabweans acquire documentation.
“The meeting will be arranged soon,” Moyo summed, noting the facilitation of documentation for the undocumented was key.
