The Archbishop Tutu IP Trust has indicated that it has instructed its lawyers to stop the Department of Home Affairs from using Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s name in vain by calling the Marabastad refugee centre, in Pretoria, the “Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre”.
This comes after the Special Investigating Officer (SIU) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Directorate (Hawks) conducted raids at various refugee facilities across the country last week.
According to media reports, whistle-blowers were the ones who lifted the lid on a fraud syndicate involving foreign nationals who were granted asylum and refugee status without proper vetting and procedures.
The raid, conducted by teams from the Hawks, SIU officers in various refugee camps in provinces such as KZN, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo, uncovered and seized items such as cellphones and computer equipment.
The late Arch agreed for his name to be used in 2016, after being informed by the Department of Home Affairs that its Marabastad facility was undergoing a turnaround strategy on the principle that refugees deserved protection, access to social services, and to be treated in a fair and humane manner. Dr Mamphela Ramphele, chairperson of the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust indicated that the organisation was withdrawing this agreement due to recent developments.
This after the department was said to have specifically undertook “to manage the centre to the highest standards and inculcate a spirit of ubuntu throughout our service delivery.”
Dr Ramphele in a statement last week said refugees were also human beings who must be protected, adding that the agreement between the Archbishop and the department allowed for the withdrawal of use of the Tutu name where there was reasonable possibility that such use may impair the Archbishop’s reputation.
“Since 2016, the Marabastad facility has periodically been in the news for all the wrong reasons, including alleged human rights violations and corruption,” she said.
“In 2018, after a spate of negative publicity led to his office writing to the department for an explanation, and issuing a press statement, the Archbishop said: ‘I hope it attracts attention to the awful conditions. Of course I had hoped it would be a refugee friendly facility’.”
Lawyers for Human Rights were quoted by SABC News over the weekend saying the country’s refugee status determination process has “completely collapsed”, which created loopholes for the extraction of money by corrupt officials.
“The Archbishop established the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust in 2019, with responsibilities to manage name rights, trademarks, copyrights and permissions in perpetuity. Associating the Archbishop with the shenanigans of an ill-managed and corrupt refugee system besmirches his name and is wholly inappropriate,” the Trust said.
Attempts to get comment from the Department of Home Affairs remained unsuccessful at the time of publication.
The Star