'Refugees home in two months'
28 May 2008, 12:39
As concerns grow about conditions in refugee camps, the provincial Cabinet is set to confirm on Wednesday that it wants to be able to get foreign nationals back in their homes within two months.
The decision comes as volunteers plead for more help from the top tiers of government.
Compounding the woes of refugees is the drop in temperatures, with people camped in army tents at the Youngsfield military base complaining of bitter cold overnight.
The displaced immigrants are sleeping on thin groundsheets. Many were walking around swathed in blankets or layers of clothing to keep warm on Wednesday morning.
Somali community leader Abdul Abdulah Gwura said: "It is very cold here. We are living on a field and the children are getting sick. They have flu and colds because they can't get warm".
"There are no health facilities here, people are going to start to get sick if nothing is done.
"Our aim is go back to Somalia, we have lost everything and there is no point in us being here."
As of last night, the official total of displaced people in the Cape Town metropolitan area was 18 618 - around 7 000 at six big sites around the city, and 11 000 at around 50 small community centres and halls.
Premier Ebrahim Rasool told the Cape Argus on Wednesday morning that he was opposed to the establishment - proposed by Mayor Helen Zille - of a seventh large safety site at iKapa Park, next to the Acacia Park parliamentary village off the N1.
Rasool said he did not want "mega-refugee camps". Instead, he wanted those in community centres to stay where they were until they could be re-integrated into the suburbs they called home.
Rasool said his Cabinet was expecting reports on Wednesday that showed "exceptional progress in re-integration" - with the assistance of more than a dozen "mediation teams".
On Tuesday Zille asked Defence Minister Lekota to make iKapa Park available to shelter displaced people. She cited his "excellent co-operation" last week in opening Simon's town naval base and part of Youngsfield military base.
Zille said she was desperate for the iKapa site because several of the existing six in the city were "bursting at the seams" - and the more than 11 000 displaced people at small community centres and halls would have to be moved.
Rasool also disagreed with Zille's call for the army to be deployed as a peacekeeping force in hotspots around the city, to ensure that those foreign nationals who wanted to return to their homes could do so in safety.
Rasool said: "The police have done an exceptional job to stop the type of murderous scenes we've seen elsewhere."
The army was a "safety net" - on standby if needed - "but I do not believe that we need to deploy the army at this moment".
But Rasool and Zille agreed on Wednesday morning that refugees who wanted to return to their home countries should be helped to do so by the Department of Home Affairs; and that those who wanted to return to their Cape Town homes should be assisted equally.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, city officials said the target was to have the thousands in city safety sites reintegrated into their communities by the end of next month.
But just how long the camps would exist depended largely on how long it would take Home Affairs to process the papers of refugees, said the city's director of Local Governance and Interface, Brent Gerber.
In addition, many refugees refused to be registered with the department, demanding the process be undertaken by the UN, or that they be sent back to their home countries, he said.
The city had appointed 45 workers to assist Home Affairs, 27 of whom had started on Wednesday, in processing paperwork.
At the Youngsfield Military Base camp, 608 refugees had already been registered.
City manager Achmat Ebrahim said a long-term plan was being drawn up by a task team led by the director for Integrated Human Settlement, Hans Smit.
Smit said the team's first meeting had been held yesterday and that the long-term plans would begin to take shape by Friday.
This process, he said, would require discussions and mediation on the ground with displaced immigrants.
The team would have to work with all spheres of government.
The plan would be a "complex multi-pronged strategy" to provide shelter, services and safety to those affected in the short term, and reintegration into their communities in the long term.
The decision comes as volunteers plead for more help from the top tiers of government.
Compounding the woes of refugees is the drop in temperatures, with people camped in army tents at the Youngsfield military base complaining of bitter cold overnight.
The displaced immigrants are sleeping on thin groundsheets. Many were walking around swathed in blankets or layers of clothing to keep warm on Wednesday morning.
Somali community leader Abdul Abdulah Gwura said: "It is very cold here. We are living on a field and the children are getting sick. They have flu and colds because they can't get warm".
"There are no health facilities here, people are going to start to get sick if nothing is done.
"Our aim is go back to Somalia, we have lost everything and there is no point in us being here."
As of last night, the official total of displaced people in the Cape Town metropolitan area was 18 618 - around 7 000 at six big sites around the city, and 11 000 at around 50 small community centres and halls.
Premier Ebrahim Rasool told the Cape Argus on Wednesday morning that he was opposed to the establishment - proposed by Mayor Helen Zille - of a seventh large safety site at iKapa Park, next to the Acacia Park parliamentary village off the N1.
Rasool said he did not want "mega-refugee camps". Instead, he wanted those in community centres to stay where they were until they could be re-integrated into the suburbs they called home.
Rasool said his Cabinet was expecting reports on Wednesday that showed "exceptional progress in re-integration" - with the assistance of more than a dozen "mediation teams".
On Tuesday Zille asked Defence Minister Lekota to make iKapa Park available to shelter displaced people. She cited his "excellent co-operation" last week in opening Simon's town naval base and part of Youngsfield military base.
Zille said she was desperate for the iKapa site because several of the existing six in the city were "bursting at the seams" - and the more than 11 000 displaced people at small community centres and halls would have to be moved.
Rasool also disagreed with Zille's call for the army to be deployed as a peacekeeping force in hotspots around the city, to ensure that those foreign nationals who wanted to return to their homes could do so in safety.
Rasool said: "The police have done an exceptional job to stop the type of murderous scenes we've seen elsewhere."
The army was a "safety net" - on standby if needed - "but I do not believe that we need to deploy the army at this moment".
But Rasool and Zille agreed on Wednesday morning that refugees who wanted to return to their home countries should be helped to do so by the Department of Home Affairs; and that those who wanted to return to their Cape Town homes should be assisted equally.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, city officials said the target was to have the thousands in city safety sites reintegrated into their communities by the end of next month.
But just how long the camps would exist depended largely on how long it would take Home Affairs to process the papers of refugees, said the city's director of Local Governance and Interface, Brent Gerber.
In addition, many refugees refused to be registered with the department, demanding the process be undertaken by the UN, or that they be sent back to their home countries, he said.
The city had appointed 45 workers to assist Home Affairs, 27 of whom had started on Wednesday, in processing paperwork.
At the Youngsfield Military Base camp, 608 refugees had already been registered.
City manager Achmat Ebrahim said a long-term plan was being drawn up by a task team led by the director for Integrated Human Settlement, Hans Smit.
Smit said the team's first meeting had been held yesterday and that the long-term plans would begin to take shape by Friday.
This process, he said, would require discussions and mediation on the ground with displaced immigrants.
The team would have to work with all spheres of government.
The plan would be a "complex multi-pronged strategy" to provide shelter, services and safety to those affected in the short term, and reintegration into their communities in the long term.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Argus on May 28, 2008
Cape Town
