Up to 2,500 Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa have fled another possible wave of xenophobic violence over claims that they are working for less than the local South African community.

Human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that he believes the refugees are being exploited because they are so desperate.

Listen to the Newsline interview with Gabriel Shumba:

“To sum it up, it’s desperation that is making people take these lower wages. Many Zimbabweans do not have contracts and are open to exploitation and in many cases, sexual abuse takes place on these farms.”

Earlier this week shacks and makeshift settlements were destroyed in the attacks on the largest squatter camp, Stofland, in De Doorns, a farming town 140 kilometres from Cape Town.

Local residents were said to be unhappy that local farmers had been employing Zimbabweans for less money.

Finding shelter
Up to 2,500 people fled the attacks, fearing a similar wave of xenophobic violence like that in May 2008 which saw more than 60 people killed and 100,000 displaced. Many women and children were forced to leave De Doorns in this latest incident and are now sheltering in an open stadium. They have been offered tents and food by the UNHCR.

Millions of Zimbabweans are seeking refuge in South Africa as the situation in their country continues to deteriorate, despite the nominal functioning of the power sharing agreement between Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and the opposition MDC, or Movement for Democratic Change. Unemployment is running at 85 percent, and the threat of starvation or cholera is never far from reality.

Meanwhile, the recession is biting hard in South Africa, with unemployment at 24.5 percent and close to 500,000 jobs lost in the last six months.

Heightened tensions
Increasing tough times mean that tensions between refugee Zimbabweans and locals struggling to survive are high.

Gabriel Shumba says that while he understands why South African’s believe that Zimbabweans are stealing their jobs, the reason Zimbabweans tolerate working under such conditions is because they have no choice.

“Many of us do not have proper documentation to stay in South Africa. It is very difficult to obtain asylum, because the South African authorities believe things have improved in Zimbabwe. What we do not understand is that the ordinary people here believe the information coming from their government, which says there is no real crisis in Zimbabwe. We hope our brothers and sisters in South Africa will understand that the existence of the unity government does not mean that all our problems are solved.”

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Find out more about the plight of Zimbabwe's refugees in South Africa by visiting the website www.zimexilesforum.org

Photo: Mark, South Africa