Asylum Access

A Refugee's Testimony: "Mohamed"

Country of Origin: Kismayo, Somalia
Languages: English, Somali, some Arabic
Activities in Somalia: Student of English, Arabic and Mathematics; English at Doboole Private School; studied in Kenya
Activities in RSA: Somali Youth Organization, Human Rights Activist, Belhar High School (Night School in English, Economics, Marketing Law), AA Yusuf Clothing Retailer
SAFER Specialty: Security, Documentation, Xenophobia

How did you become a refugee?
There has been a civil war in Somalia for the past 16 years. There have been several armed conflicts, displacement. I decided to get out of the mess. In 1994, there was a lot of unrest in Kismayo, and we went to Afmadou. I stayed in Afmadou from 1994 to 2003 with my family. There are seven people in my family, including my parents. I have five sisters. At the end of 2003, I left for Kenya by myself. I had to leave because most of the people involved in the conflict were youths. Most youths took guns to fight ? some to defend themselves, some to attack. Even if you are not part of the warring groups, you could be attacked. It became clear that I should take a gun for self-defense or run. I decided to run.

Please describe your journey away from home and to South Africa.
I took a bus to Nairobi. It was better than Somalia but I was not welcome or received well, particularly by the immigration system. Police were arresting and harassing the people because we lacked documents. I went to UNHCR but I couldn?t get access to documents and the police arrested me several times, even while I was waiting in line. I was arrested in a police cell without charge and a friend bribed the officer to help me out, so I decided to come to South Africa.

I traveled by van to Tanzania and Mozambique. We travelled by foot when we came close to the border to avoid the immigration officers. We paid the guides about $300 from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam. We were arrested several times even in Mozambique. I spent one month in a police cell in Mozambique, and we were deported back to Tanzania. But Tanzania refused to take us. I was very weak because all my money was gone and we spent time in the jail cell. Thank God we managed to come back to Mozambique again. We went to Maputo and took a taxi. When we came to the border with South Africa, it was a long walk with hills. We were walking blindly. We didn?t know where we were going. There were fences and we were not sure if they were electrified. (Laughing) I would like to write a book about it that I will call ?Walking Blindly?.

When we came to South Africa, we believed it was our heaven. I was not as scared of the police in South Africa as other countries because the police seemed to be friendlier than East Africa and Mozambique. In East Africa it felt like they were hunting you. In South Africa, you could tell them you wanted asylum and they would help you. I came to Johannesburg on 4 February 2005 and stayed in Mayfair with Somalis. My friends gave me a warm welcome and I spent a week there. There was a lot of violence against Somalis in the Eastern Cape and I heard that Western Cape was the most peaceful province. I travelled to Cape Town and went to Bellville. When you go somewhere, you search for your community. My friends welcomed me.

Please describe your process of receiving Refugee Status Determination.
At Home Affairs it was difficult to get status. I was going in the morning at 6am. There was a lot of corruption. By evening I would not have gotten closer to the gate or have seen an official, and if you went, you were pushed back. I spent three months trying to get an asylum seeker permit.

I moved to Samora-Michel township and worked in friend?s shop. I worked there for six months. The situation was difficult because of security. There were attacks against Somali shops. We were attacked at gunpoint. We were selling through the window and they came in the shop and we were held hostage with the customers for half an hour. Fortunately, they didn?t shoot us and only took money and some of the stock. There were also Somalis who were injured in that township. I decided to go to a safer place. I moved to the Northern Cape and stayed with a relative in Uppington. I spent about six months there, but my temporary permit expired every three months. I had to return to Cape Town by bus every three months and the cost of the bus was about the same as my salary. I asked for status and was told I didn?t have the right to apply. I didn?t know what to do. I came to UCT for help and fortunately I was warmly welcomed and I explained my problem. I was told that I could ask for an interview. Thanks to UCT, I knew how to ask for a status determination interview. UCT wrote me a letter to Home Affairs. The Home Affairs officials gave me an appointment and I received a second interview.

I was given another week for a second interview appointment. It took me three weeks. I later realized that the person who had interviewed me was a new worker to Home Affairs who had just completed Matric [high school]. She was confusing the questions. I just assumed that they were rejecting my claim as unfounded as punishment. I went to UCT and they helped me appeal. I had a hearing in November and I am waiting for the results.

Please describe your experience in your new country of South Africa.
After being rejected, I decided I would move closer to Cape Town so that I could renew my permit more often. They were extending my permit only for two weeks, so I moved from Uppington to Masiphumelele to be closer. Masiphumelele was better than Samora-Michel and Khayelitsha. I bought a share of a shop with another business partner. We sold groceries, food, bread, chips, mealie meal, paraffin, cool drinks, all the things the community needs. We didn?t sell cigarettes because we don?t like them. I spent two months in Masi trying to learn how to manage the shop because we were new.

There were rumors that the local shop owners did not appreciate the presence of the Somalis. They called our landlords and asked them to force us out of the shops. The landlords didn?t want to chase out the Somalis because they needed our business. When we heard the rumors, we preferred to meet with the local shop owners. But unfortunately, they insisted they did not want to meet with us. When we saw the problem, we knew that there was something coming. We explained this to the Ocean View police station. Masi was a relatively peaceful place. We were used to walking during the night, even during the World Cup. The younger generation started insulting us and throwing stones. One night a shop owner was attacked by some youths. The victim of that shop tried to open a case against the attackers. The police insisted they could not be involved with things. The police said the community is already complaining about the Somalis. I knew to come to UCT. UCT wrote a letter saying they would open an intimidation case.

The police needed evidence so told us to come with our landlords and to explain words of intimidation. Before the landlords met with the police, the attack came. I was in the shop at that time with another guy. It was about 8pm and we were trying to close the shop and preparing to sleep and the angry mob came. Before they reached us they destroyed the other shop. A Somali lady owned a shop across from ours. The Somali lady came running, knocked on the window, and said we should be careful. As she was returning, the mob came. They threatened to kill us if we didn?t open the shop. We decided to defend ourselves. We hit people?s hands when they stuck their hands inside the windows. The people broke the windows and we called the police. The police came before they managed to come in and there were very few. They could not protect us. The mob did not have respect for the police. They threw stones at the police. Fortunately, the police numbers increased later and they came with rubber bullets but most of the Somali shops were destroyed at that time. Even mine was destroyed. The police said they could only save our lives or property, because they were afraid of other Somalis who were being burnt in their shops because they were trapped. In a minute they took everything. It took three hours. Then we went to the police station. Fortunately no one was killed.

A pastor gave us a place to stay for three days. We moved to a church. I now live in Bellville. I feel safe in Bellville. I am studying for my Matric because I was never able to complete school in Somalia. There are ten people in the flat. Three guys share a room.