Cape Town – The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will soon close the window for refugees’ reintegration assessments of those who are living at Paint City in Bellville and Wingfield in Kensington.
The refugees and asylum seekers have up until May 15 to approach the UNHCR and accept the reintegration package, which includes counselling, three months paid rent, along with food.
The notice has come while the Scalabrini Centre and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) continues legal discussions over the closure of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office (CTRRO).
To date the UN Human Rights Council, in collaboration with its implementing partner, the Adonis Musati Project, has placed 414 people from the Wingfield site back into their hosting communities.
The figure was shared with Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday during a briefing by the DHA, UNHRC, SA Human Rights Commission and the City.
The DHA and the involved role-players were expected to close the two sites in Bellville and Kensington last month, however this had to be extended to give immigration and UNHCR officials a chance to assist in verifying the status of some foreign nationals who may have lost or misplaced their documents, and those who are undocumented.
The department's deputy director-general for immigration, Jackson Mckay said people who have been integrated back into communities will retain their legal status.
“Some of these people need these documents to satisfy the requirements as stipulated by the UNHCR for voluntary repatriation back to their countries of origin and for reintegration.”
City mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith said costs of both tents were more than R6 million, excluding other resources.
“We have tried to support all interventions and intergovernmental discussions in good faith. The city cannot afford any of these costs, so far they are beyond our competency,” Smith said.
The Portfolio Committee said it would discuss plans to visit the site and engage with the 350 protesters who had rejected two proposals that were offered and insisted on being resettled to another country.
Meanwhile Scalabrini, which is represented by the Legal Resource Centre (LRC) is seeking to compel the reopening of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office which has been closed since 2014.
In a statement on social media, the LRC said that Scalabrini and the Somali Association for South Africa (Sasa) were requesting the appointment of a Special Master to oversee the process.
“In 2014 the DHA closed the CTRRO, a decision that was set aside in 2017 by the Supreme Court of Appeal, which ordered the DHA to reopen a fully functional CTRRO by March 31, 2018. To date, the DHA has not complied with this order and the CTRRO remains closed.”
Cape Times