Please forgive me if l sound cruel, it is merely out of concern for my fellow countrymen. Finally, the Central Methodist Church [CMC] harbouring more than 400 Zimbabweans is closing its doors on them. And I hear help is pouring from all corners of South Africa to assist these so-called refugees. South Africans are a generous lot indeed. I commend them for this act. I am aware that the CMC helped more than 800 Zimbabweans at the peak of our shameful socio-economic malaise around 2007/8. Some people would have perished of hunger or killed by thugs in the streets of South Africa if the bishop and his church had not controversially come to their rescue. Thank you Bishop Paul Verryn, may God bless you for aiding my countrymen at that critical period of our nation.
I am however concerned with the continued need for help by the remaining more than 400 Zimbabweans who are still troubling the elderly bishop. I think it is time we told each other the truth. How can these fellows be content to continue to depend on the church for food, accommodation etc for almost ten years? Is this still serving a noble purpose for the displaced Zimbabwe community? I feel it is no longer relevant, and has long outlived its necessity. Whom are these so-called refugees still fleeing from? If they are economic refugees with no hope of getting jobs and still in need of this continued humiliating dependence, why can’t they say so? Can they not then trek back to their homes in Zimbabwe kana zvaramba? For nearly ten years they have failed to help themselves, regularise their stay, even through special dispensation permit visas and get jobs? For close to ten years they still want to be dependent. No, something is terribly wrong and no one has the guts to say it. Who is benefitting from this dehumanizing dependence?
I hear some of these so-called refugees are actually employed people whilst others are conducting some thriving businesses and they love the CMC for its free accommodation that obviously come with no bills to pay. Is the bishop aware that some of his needy refugees are not what he thinks they are? Is he aware of the rumours that some of them are abusing young kids in that place? To show that not everyone is needy, some of these refugees have promptly found accommodation within the area to be near their work places upon hearing that the church was closing its doors on them. So who is fooling who? The church just needs to stop encouraging this dependence syndrome. The church and its retired bishop can not continue doing the same thing the same way for almost years and not expect the same results, dependence syndrome. It has to change and let these people loose in the maze of South Africa or help them go back to Zimbabwe. Why should they be used as political pawns both in South Africa and in Zimbabwe? If the South African government is unwilling, as it has shown over so many years, to give them temporary permits so that they work, why not do the decent thing and help them to get back on their feet and go home?
Yes, it was good to help fellow human beings at their hour of need, but it is equally bad to allow them to stay in a perpetual dependent state. For so many years, these ‘refugees’ and the church had ample time to get organised and sort their lives in South Africa or back in Zimbabwe instead of perpetuating dependence syndrome. If there are no jobs in South Africa, and the government is not prepared to give them permits, is the church going to provide for them for the rest of their lives? No, my fellow countrymen go back home where you come from and do something productive about your lives and for your country. Even selling tomatoes or juice cards in the streets of Mbare would give you hope and aspirations for the best than being mere dependents doing nothing 24/7 if you are not already employed. I am aware this is not easy, but then you don’t have to be life-long beggars or career beggars!! You don’t have to continue abusing people’s generosity for no reason other than that you don’t want to be responsible for your own lives. Those with children are certainly not teaching them anything good from those humble communal dwellings. Help the bishop retire with dignity, he helped and served you well; its now time you took charge of your lives. A culture of dependence can easily become a generational cycle of poverty, a great concern worldwide. Stop it now and work for your bills to enhance your self esteem.
I know many of you will ask what is it that l want these so-called refugees to go back and do in Zimbabwe. But please before you ask me that good question, can you tell me anything good they are doing in South Africa if they still require church freebies, nearly ten years after arriving in South Africa? What are those back home surviving on? If they failed to do something about themselves in the last bygone years, they will never do anything even after 100 years, so where do you draw the line? In Zimbabwe; they can try anything for survival, other than living paupers at the mercy of generous strangers. It is time that children born in that church, several years ago, sleep in a proper room and have normalcy in their lives. Having unintentionally deskilled some of these people for several years, the bishop and his commendable donors may now need to work with them on plans about going back homes and set up income generating projects.
Let me emphasise that I have no doubt that the bishop has very good intentions helping those poor ‘refugees,’ but he should be aware that there are these troubling side effects that come with such help. I am very sure he doesn’t want the ‘refugees’ to become life-long dependent on his assistance. It is therefore far better for him and his donors to encourage the ‘refugees’ to do what they can for themselves, especially helping them to achieve some personal goals. Other than that, the bishop will be seen as being paternalistic and inevitably destroying their desire to work or to attain some personal goals. These are adults who should be treated as such and urged to ‘man up’ and to face the reality that they can’t be charity cases for life! Indeed, as someone once said, ‘There can be no genuine reciprocity between individuals or groups when the one treats the other like a child.’ Thus, I urge the bishop and his supporters, incorporating the South African and Zimbabwean governments, to find workable ways that will encourage the ‘refugees’ to work for themselves. The donated funding or accommodation should only serve to enable them to turn away from dependency to self-reliance. Prolonged dependency on others’ funding and goodwill will definitely not empower the recipients.