The government has begun rehabilitating Ugandan nationals repatriated from South Africa following recent unrest and xenophobic attacks targeting foreign nationals, in which at least three Ugandans reportedly lost their lives.
The returnees are undergoing psychosocial support and reintegration training at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi before being reunited with their families.
The rehabilitation programme continued on Monday following the arrival of a fourth evacuation flight carrying 166 Ugandans from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. The group was received at Entebbe International Airport by government officials led by Ambassador Dickens Ogwang before proceeding to Kyankwanzi.
According to Uganda’s Ambassador to South Africa, Paul Amoru, the latest arrivals bring the total number of Ugandans voluntarily repatriated under the government evacuation programme to 730. So far, 266 Ugandans returned on the first flight, 32 on the second, 266 on the third and 166 on the fourth.
At NALI, the returnees are receiving counselling and psychosocial support to help them recover from the emotional and psychological effects of the violence. Many lost businesses, jobs, homes and, in some cases, family members during the unrest.
Government officials say the programme is also addressing the economic challenges facing those who were forced to abandon their livelihoods. They say the rehabilitation process is intended to help returnees regain confidence, cope with trauma and prepare for successful reintegration into their communities.
Leading the counselling sessions, Peter Baguma encouraged the returnees to remain hopeful despite the hardships they had endured.
“Although many of you have lost property and sources of income, you have not lost the opportunity to rebuild your lives,” Baguma said, emphasizing that professional counselling is essential in helping survivors overcome trauma and prevent long-term psychological effects.
The returnees were also officially welcomed home by Helen Seku, who conveyed greetings from President Yoweri Museveni and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to supporting their successful reintegration.
The programme is also providing support to young adults and children who were born and raised in South Africa. For many of them, the evacuation marked their first visit to Uganda and their first opportunity to meet relatives in their ancestral homeland.
Officials say this group faces unique reintegration challenges as they adjust to a new social and cultural environment while coping with the trauma of displacement.
Ogwang said another group of Ugandans is expected to return next week, bringing the total number of repatriated nationals to about 1,000.
Government officials say the recent unrest in South Africa disproportionately affected foreign nationals, with many reporting hostility linked to employment, business ownership and marriages involving South African citizens.
Has it occurred to anyone that our leadership here, that is very fond of parroting their Pan-Africanist credentials, has not come out to condemn the violence meted out by black South Africans on their fellow black non-South Africans?
Zowe, Pan-Africanism died and was buried with its founders (The Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere of this continent)! To continue listening to the parroting, is like the Achebian (Chinua Achebe) proverbial fly, which has no one to advise it, follows the corpse into the grave and also gets buried.
Just like the parroting of PATRIOTISM, the Pan African movement was overtaken by so many events long time ago; especially Globalization. Therefore it is a BOGUS, inconsequential, empty and hollow rhetoric, to hoodwink the gullible.
Otherwise, what brainwashing effect does the regime want to rehabilitate these victims of South Africa Afro-phobia from? These are the unfortunate double victims of the very ideologically bankrupt, incompetent, corrupt and backward regime; that drove our countrymen/women and/or their children into the social economic quagmire and destitution they found themselves in South Africa.
Suppose tomorrow, the Middle East countries: where almost a half a million of our countrymen/women and/or our sons/daughters being paid slave wage, are also thrown out; will there be enough rehabilitation space in Kyanwanzi?
And who picks the bill or budgeted for such rehabilitation and for how long?
In other words, this is a shauriyako republic!