2005-10-04,+Home+Affairs+Minister+wants+to+meet+Zim+refugees+etc

= From: Pamela Masiko, Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum =

Hi everyone As you probably know; the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum (ZSF) had a public meeting on Friday, the 30th of September in Wits. We did invite the Department of Home Affairs which eventually provided us with their representative to address the meeting. Mr Sikakane (the representative) is within the Directorate of Refugee Affairs in the national Department of Home Affairs. One of the successes of that meeting was that Home Affairs resolved to open itself up and offered to arrange a forum with the minister to discuss some of the matters raised in the meeting we held. They want us to inform you of the following: The Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula wants to meet Ø     Refugees and/ or asylum seekers Ø     Organisations/ groups that deal with or do work with refugees The meeting will take place as follows: Venue             Braamfontein Civic Centre Time               15h00 Date               5th October 2005 (Wednesday) The official I spoke to requested that I collect some form of a register of the people and organisations that will be attending this meeting. I think this is only for purposes of estimating the number of people likely to attend the meeting. People can then RSVP through me and I will then communicate with the department by early Wednesday morning. One of the purposes and the mandate of the forum is to engage principally in collective advocacy at national, regional and continental levels with the aim of influencing the policies and actions of the South African Government. It is in keeping with this mandate that we are supporting these arrangements. We hope that you and your organizations will also take up this opportunity as it will give all of us the opportunity to engage Home Affairs constructively on a wide range of issues that affect our work. It is suggested that a pre meeting of interested parties to prepare for Home Affairs be held at 13h00 on Wednesday at the CSVR offices. Please let me know if you can attend. Regards Pamela Masiko Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum pmasiko@csvr.org.za 082 355 6888 011 403 5650