Durban - The attempt of a Cato Ridge farming couple to lend a helping hand by providing shelter to 138 displaced immigrants, could see them charged for violating municipal by-laws if they do not evict the foreigners from their farm.
Andrew and Rae Wartnaby temporarily opened their farm to the foreigners last month while the Anti-Xenophobia Coalition, which includes the Kwazulu-Natal Council of Churches, Doctors Without Borders and others, tried to find a long-term solution.
“We’ve always said this was an interim solution, but now we’ve been told that we are violating by-laws and need to evict all of them by September 6,” said Andrew.
The foreigners moved to Hope Farm a month ago after the government closed down the last of the interim camps that had been set up for thousands of foreigners who fled their homes in March and April.
While many of those who were displaced had either been reintegrated into the community or repatriated, more that 100 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi refused those options, citing fear of being victims of violence here and in their home countries.
The Wartnabys have not received a written eviction notice or been told which by-laws they are violating, but Andrew said they suspected it had to do with zoning.
“We are zoned for agriculture, so I don’t think we are allowed to have this many people on the farm, but we are having a meeting with the municipality and I’m hoping they can give us a bit more time before we are forced to evict.”
He said initially some of his neighbours expressed concern about having a large number of unemployed people on his farm, but he believed those had since been ironed out.
Mkhambathini Municipality manager Devan Pillay refused to specify to The Mercury which bylaws the Wartnabys were violating, saying: “The farm owner has been advised on the matter and we don’t want to comment on it.”
Camperdown Policing Forum chairman John de Jesus said: “We haven’t had any incidents of crime involving any of the immigrants at Hope Farm because they are kept within the farm and someone accompanies them when they go somewhere, so I think the community is not really concerned that they would do something,” said.
Dr Lucas Ngoetjana, of the KwaZulu-Natal Council of Churches, said things were under control at the farm and there was no reason for the municipality to use bylaws as an excuse to “punish” the destitute.
“The situation calls for compassion while we try to facilitate dialogues towards reintegration. If they rush us with forced evictions, we will not be able to achieve our objective,” he said.
His sentiments were shared by Maurice Smithers of social justice organisation Awethu. He said the deadline was unreasonable.
“We need to work together to find a long-term solution because we don’t want xenophobia to permeate our society and refugees living in fear in a country that has the power to protect them.”
The Mercury