(MENAFN- The Post)
MASERU – THE bullets were whizzing past as the Mai-Mai, a ragtag militia fighting for the secession of the diamond-rich Katanga province, pushed their way towards the provincial capital of Lubumbashi.
Their aim was to seize control of Katanga and secede from the central
government in Kinshasa in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The secessionist conflict, however, soon turned into an ethnic orgy as the Mai-Mai rebels targeted individuals who were not from their own tribe.
Kabeya Kasongo Bruno, a medical doctor based in Katanga at that time and who was from the Kasai ethnic group, quickly realised that he must flee or he and his family would be killed
Dr Kabeya, together with his wife and six-month old baby, soon packed their bags and left.
Their first port of call was Cape Town, South Africa, a magnet for refugees and migrants in Africa.
That was in 2008.
Dr Kabeya's stay in Cape Town was soon cut short after xenophobic violence flared up in July of that year.
Feeling extremely unsafe, Dr Kabeya was once again on the run, this time heading north-east to Lesotho
He applied for refugee status which was quickly granted.
He also got a job at Tebellong Hospital in Qacha's Nek.
Dr Kabeya who is the vice-predident of the Lesotho Refugee Association, is among the 281 refugees in Lesotho, according to the 2020 statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). About 80 percent of these were from the DRC, while the rest came from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda.
Each of these refugees has a story to tell.
A story of trauma. A story of violent displacement
And a story of battling economic hardships in a foreign land.
But they also have stories of triumph over hardships.
Stories of defiance. Stories of resilience and a certain resourcefulness and ingenuity in the face of hardships.
That is why instead of waiting for handouts from the government, they have set up small businesses to fend for themselves and provide for their families.
While Lesotho has provided Dr Kabeya and his colleagues in the refugee community with a sense of security and relative freedom, his stay has not been without challenges
He says when he first arrived in Lesotho in 2008, he could work and travel across the border into South Africa without any hindrances.
The situation however changed about four years ago when South Africa tightened its borders and blocked refugees resident in Lesotho from freely travelling into the country.
Dr Kabeya told thepost this week that as a result of the stringent border controls, refugees who are based in Lesotho can no longer freely cross the border.
“Even when we have medical emergencies, we are no longer able to seek specialist care in Bloemfontein or Johannesburg,” he says.
“It now feels like we are now in a huge, open air prison.”Advertisement
Dr Kabeya says the South African immigration officials at Maseru Bridge are rejecting the refugee passports and national Identity Cards (IDs) at the border.
“The refugee passports were endorsed by the UNHCR as a travel document and we could travel freely across the border. But not anymore,” he says.
“We have been told that we cannot cross with that passport, which has an R indicating that we are refugees and that we should instead apply for a visa.”
Even when they try to apply for visas, the South African embassy in Maseru is not issuing out the visas.
“We have expressed our concerns to the High Commissioner for Refugees in Lesotho. They have told us that they have taken note of our challenges and will deal with the matter,” he says
“The South African embassy is refusing to give us the visas and we have not been given any reasons why this is so,” Dr Kabeya says.
“All we are seeking is a right to move freely across the border once one presents their travel documents,” he says.
Dr Kabeya says refugees have children, most of whom were born in Lesotho or came into the country when they were very young.
“These children have aspirations and dreams. They want to further their studies at universities in South Africa but they do not have access to those opportunities. That is why some of us are beginning to think that we are in an open prison,” he says.
Besides the border crisis, most refugee doctors are struggling to register and operate their own private practices. For a doctor to operate in Lesotho, he must first be registered with the Lesotho Medical Council
“But one can only get that licence if one is working for a hospital run by the Christian Health Association of Lesotho (CHAL) or the government. If you are running your own practice you have to overcome stringent conditions,” he says.
“The Medical Council does not recognise the refugee status and they also don't see us as expatriates. I have tried to renew my licence for my private clinic in the last year but there has been no answer.”
“All that we are seeking and pleading with the government is recognition (of our refugee status) and be given the freedom to work and run businesses in Lesotho. We also can't get a loan from banks. They don't recognise the refugee status,” he says.
Dr Kabeya says when they try to register businesses in Lesotho they still face challenges as they are regarded as refugees under the new controversial Business Licensing and Registration Regulations of 2020 which bar foreigners from operating businesses in certain sectors.
“They are refusing to register our businesses, creating big problems for refugees. Because we are not Basotho it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to own businesses in Lesotho. We understand that the government has other commitments but all we are asking is that we fend for ourselves.”Advertisement
“We don't want to rely on the government. We want to look after ourselves.” Dr Kabeya says they have on numerous occasions expressed their concerns to the UNHCR but nothing has changed.
Carbizo Kasuba, is a 40-year-old medical doctor who fled the DRC in 2016.
He too is a refugee in Lesotho.
“I was working at a hospital in the eastern town of Goma in the DRC when rebels from Rwanda stormed the hospital and began shooting indiscriminately. Some of my colleagues were killed in the attack,” Dr Kasuba says.
“I realised I was no longer safe and fled to Uganda.”Advertisement
The rebels burned the houses, burned the hospital and prison leaving him with deep emotional scars. It took him five years before he was reunited with his wife and child.
Although he feels safe in Lesotho, and is grateful for the hospitality shown by the government of Lesotho, he too is facing major challenges that are unique to refugees.
“When my daughter, who has a serious heart deformity, fell sick I struggled to take her for specialist treatment in Bloemfontein. She was very sick and could have died. I was stuck here in Lesotho until a“Good Samaritan” at the South Africa border intervened,” Dr Kasuba says.
“Refugees elsewhere, like those in South Africa and Mozambique, don't need a visa to come to Lesotho. They just get their passports stamped and they cross the border. Why us in Lesotho?”
Jessy Shungu, now 32, came to Lesotho from Lubumbashi in the DRC as a 16-year-old boy in 2009. He too was fleeing ethnic clashes in the DRC
Shungu is running a carpentry workshop, producing and repairing couches in Maseru. But his business is now in distress because he too can't travel to South Africa to buy stock.
“What is the use of the refugee passport when I can't cross the border?” he asks.
“We are stuck here in Lesotho. We can't go anywhere to buy stock.”
At some point he tried to negotiate with the border authorities, an attempt which never worked.
“My passport was destroyed five times at the Maseru border by South African immigration officers. They told me that Lesotho was too small to host refugees,” he says
Shungu says his father applied and was granted Lesotho citizenship.
“But they refused to give me citizenship. This is just too much for me. At one point I even thought I must commit suicide, things were just too much.”
He says he used to travel and do his business in South Africa without challenges but not anymore.
“I have a child and a wife to take care of but it's tough. Some have been here for the past 10 or 15 years and they are doctors, serving Basotho. But they are struggling to travel.”
Victor Tshinobo, 57, is a refugee from the DRC who runs a cosmetics business in Lesotho. He used to frequently travel to South Africa to buy his products, until the South Africa government tightened the borders for him
“Now we have to rely on Basotho who can still freely move across the border to buy stuff for us in South Africa. That arrangement does not always work out well since they sometimes buy inappropriate stuff for us and charge us a high fee for the service,” he says.
“We are prisoners here and no one is intervening on our behalf,” he says.
Deborah Huguette, 39, came to Lesotho from Lubumbashi in the DRC in 2008. She too was a victim of ethnic clashes.
“The rebels from Rwanda were killing my people, the Baluba, in the province of Katanga. They said we were not Congolese and they were attacking us. That is why I fled and came to Lesotho,” she says.
In 2017, she enrolled for a degree in fashion and design at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology. She struggled with the English language but finally made it, graduating from the university in 2021
But now she can't get a job. Or start her own business.
Under the Ministry of Trade's Business Licensing Regulations of 2020, she cannot be allowed to start her own business in the fashion and design sector as such jobs are reserved for Basotho.
“They have told me that fashion and design is reserved for Basotho.”
What keeps her going are odd jobs that she gets from clients. But even when she is trying to make ends meet, she still cannot buy materials in South Africa due to the visa issues as a refugee.
“I am blocked. I can't travel to South Africa. When I buy the materials here, it is of a very low quality. That is a big challenge.”
“It's not like Basotho are bad people. They have kept us really well, no xenophobia, it is only these small things that are blocking us that need to be fixed.”Advertisement
South Africa's High Commissioner to Lesotho, Constance Seoposengwe, told thepost yesterday that she was not aware of the challenges refugees in Lesotho were facing to cross the border.
“As far as I know, we haven't received any applications for refugees to transit to RSA via land border,” Seoposengwe said.
“If at the border they want a visitor's visa endorsed on the passport I think they must present their request to the embassy by applying for a visitor's visa,” she said.
Seoposengwe said if the refugees are under the Lesotho Commissioner of Refugees,“they normally carry their permission to travel”.
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