CAPE TOWN - Home Affairs officials have embarked on a verification process of refugees and asylum seekers accommodated in a temporary camp in Bellville, set up for the group who had been protesting for several months in the Cape Town CBD, demanding to be moved to another country.
Home Affairs spokesperson David Hlabane said the operation at emergency shelter at Paint City was to identify and verify the status of the refugees living there.
The Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs and the Refugee Appeals Authority are providing oversight. A similar process was concluded at a facility called Wingfield in Kensington.
But he said refugees and asylum seekers at the camp, who were followers of JP Balous and his wife Aline Bukuru, refused to co-operate.
One of the leaders, Hafiz Mohammed, said the officials “raided” the camp on Thursday and took people to various police stations for the verification process. He said some were allegedly forced to sign forms for reintegration into local communities and after they refused were held in the police station.
“We would like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help us move out of the country. They can decide where we can go as long as it is a safe and peaceful country where our children can have a future,” Mohammed said.
He said children had no access to education, even those who were to write matric exams could not do so as their “papers” were not processed.
In October 2019, hundreds of refugees began protest outside the UNHCR offices in St Georges Mall. After they were removed by police, they took refuge at the central Methodist Church where they remained until this year.
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs Bongani Bongo said the committee wanted to conclude the verification process as soon as possible so an exit plan that included reintegration into local society would be implemented.
“We are concerned about the condition of the refugees and asylum seekers. But it will be impossible to facilitate their deportation to Canada or any other country. Those who want to go to Canada will have to go back to their original countries”, Bongo said.
UNHCR spokesperson Kate Pond said refugees and asylum seekers had the right to choose if and when to return to their country of origin. She said the UNHCR was “ready to support reintegration into the communities, or repatriation for those who choose to do so and in a dignified manner.
Weekend Argus