Dying of hope

A prayer vigil in Rome held for World Refugee Day on June 20 was titled “Dying of Hope”, a deliberate paradox which, in three words, defines the experience of many displaced people.

It is an experience shared by refugees in South Africa. As we read in this week’s issue, for Vanneaux Kongolo, a political refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the prayer vigil’s theme assumed a literal assumption. Doubtless he is neither the first nor the last refugee driven to suicide by an uncaring and faceless bureaucracy.

We read this week that Mr Kongolo, a physiotherapist by profession, was denied refugee status, apparently without being given an explanation as to how his case failed to meet the relevant criteria. Without refugee status, he existed on the fringes of society, finding it impossible even to open a banking account.

On the photo we publish, and on others we have received but could not print, we encounter a smiling young man who performed volunteer work with children, a man of deep faith, a man who surely would have loved to repay South Africa’s kindness in giving him refuge from political persecution by becoming a productive member of our society.

Mr Kongolo was denied that opportunity, arbitrarily. It drove a desperate man to the most extreme conclusion: suicide.

And his experience is that of many others, perhaps with the difference that Mr Kongolo had the benefit of friends who accommodated him and devoted time to try and help him. Many refugees are alone in facing the random indifference of the Department of Home Affairs, the bureaucracy of impenetrable regulations, and, in many cases, the hostility of South Africans.

Perhaps they are the victims of circumstance. South Africa is facing a huge burden in accommodating genuine refugees. According to figures released last month by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, South Africa is the world’s leading destination for refugees. In 2011, the country recorded 107,000 refugee applications — that is 12% of the global total — ahead of the United States (76,000) and France (52,100).

It is evident that the country’s bureaucracy is not equipped to process such large numbers of applicants, and resources are also required in other crucial areas of administration.

However, no country can treat refugees in so indifferent a manner as to cause their suicide—less so South Africa, many of whose leaders, including the president and the minister of home affairs, were themselves exiles from political persecution. Where is the sense of solidarity that our political leadership benefited from during the struggle against apartheid? Where is the compassion?

The Catholic Church is engaged in aiding displaced people in South Africa through organisations such as Jesuit Refugee Service, the Refugee Pastoral Centre, the Scalabrini Centre and others. Their work needs our on-going support.

In a commentary for Vatican Radio last month, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ outlined how we should address the refugee question, acknowledging that it involves individuals with hopes and fears and aspirations, not anonymous statistics.

“As well as providing shelter and food, what is also needed is to listen, to understand, to provide human and spiritual comfort, to begin rebuilding even the smallest amount of trust in others and in life,” Fr Lombardi said. “From this, a person can begin again to hope in the future. This is one of the biggest challenges for believers and people of good will who truly want, at last, to start to build a better world.”

At a time when South Africa complains about skills shortages, the integration into society of refugees must be seen not as a problem, but as an opportunity. More than that, the country has an ethical obligation, embedded in social justice, to extend its hospitality to those in need of it.

South Africa has failed Vanneaux Kongolo and others like him. This must be set right, with the implementation of coherent policy and proper administrative directives which will bring justice to those who have already been denied it at home.