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Zimbabweans in SA who missed food assistance deadline are desperate

Source: Groundup, 05/08/2020


“There is no room for extension at this point because submitted details are already being processed,” said Chaurura.
The embassy had put out a call for Zimbabweans in SA in need of food assistance because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to apply for help by July 19.
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The assistance would come in the form of a once-off voucher from the International Organisation for Migration, which had asked the embassy to submit a list of Zimbabweans for inclusion.
Chaurura said about 3,300 Zimbabweans had successfully registered for food assistance.
Priority would be given to expecting mothers, unemployed youth and women-headed households.
In May, Zimbabwe ambassador David Hamadziripi told GroundUp that the Zimbabwean embassy had received over 4,000 requests for food assistance. The embassy had sent lists of struggling Zimbabweans to NGO partners and agencies of the UN.
Many immigrants earn an income through informal trading and menial jobs, which have evaporated during the pandemic, and initially no assistance was forthcoming for them from the SA government.
Then Pretoria high court judge Selby Baqwa ruled on June 19 that the R350 Special Covid-19 social relief grant be extended to asylum seekers and special permit holders from Lesotho, Angola and Zimbabwe.


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