Cape Town - For dozens of refugees at Paint City in Bellville, living in a tent with no fence or security has made them as vulnerable as they were when they fled their countries of origin.
This as the United Nations marked World Refugee Day on Sunday under the theme “Together we heal, learn and shine”.
The Day aims to celebrate the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution.
However Hafiz Mohammad, one of the leaders in Paint City said there was nothing to celebrate because their lives were not valued.
“We came to this country because it was praised for championing human rights but that is not the case. I have been in this country for 17 years and all I have seen is xenophobia in different communities.
“Looting of foreign national shops and killings. Look at our current situation now the government and other local authorities keep on threatening to remove ablution facilities and the tents sometime in July. The fence erected around the tent was removed and homeless people were stealing and forcefully using our facilities. No one cares, we are just vulnerable out here,” said Mohammad.
He also accused the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of doing little to assist them including finalising legal documents, something that was allegedly affecting children from being accepted at schools and parents getting jobs.
“We are told to choose to go back to the same communities that don't want us or go back to our countries of origin which we fled.”
Paint City and the Wingfield base in Kensington were established during lockdown to temporarily house hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers, including children.
UNHCR spokesperson in South Africa, Kate Pond said they continued to assist people who approached them for support to reintegrate into local communities or to return to their countries of origin in safety and dignity.
“To date, more than 600 people who approached us for support with reintegration into the community have been assessed. We provide families with counselling, three months’ rent, food and household items to promote sustainable reintegration. Only a small number of people from the sites have approached UNHCR for support with voluntary repatriation to their countries of origin.”
Pond said they run peer-led support groups for all refugees and asylum-seekers to support healing, learning and other skills.
She said they were concerned that children at these sites continue to miss out on education as their parents have pulled them out of schools.
In a statement in March the UNHCR said a new agreement was signed by them UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and the Department of Home Affairs for a project to eliminate delays and the backlog in asylum decisions in a bid to revamp the refugee management system by 2024.
Cape Times