The Gauteng government was on Friday deciding whether and where to consolidate shelters in line with a Constitutional Court order that displaced people are entitled to shelter until the end of September.
”We are happy with the overall order,” said spokesperson Thabo Masebe after the court ruled on Thursday that the government and lawyers for the displaced have to talk to each other to find a solution, and provide the court with a progress report on their efforts.
”It’s difficult to talk about victory or defeat, but something awful would have happened if they had to go on to the streets,” said Stuart Wilson from the University of the Witwatersrand’s Centre for Applied Legal Studies, which is associated with the displaced people’s application.
”There are still thousands of people living in tents,” said Wilson, but he is pleased that the court has forced the parties to talk to each other, saying it had initially been difficult to communicate with the Gauteng government.
”But in the last 12 hours [since the order] there has been progress,” he said.
The Consortium for Migrants and Refugees, Odinga Mamba, Vasco Mitabele, Kiza Issa and Davidzo Maduviko unsuccessfully applied to the Pretoria High Court last Tuesday to keep the shelters open beyond the government’s closing date of August 15.
The shelters were erected after a spate of xenophobic violence in May left more than 60 people dead and sent frightened foreigners living in South Africa to police stations and community halls while they waited for the attacks on people and the torching and looting of homes and businesses to end.
The government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees responded by moving the displaced to a number of camps in Gauteng, and they have lived there since May, with food and medical care being provided by NGOs.
Most of the estimated 20 000 people who had sought shelter had left by August 15, but between 2 000 to 3 000 people remain, saying they have no money for accommodation and are afraid to go home.
After failing in the Pretoria High Court, the refugees took the matter to the Constitutional Court, and the Gauteng government said it would suspend closure pending an order.
Progress reports
The Constitutional Court’s order merges a number of proposals made by both parties.
It orders that the refugees’ representatives and the government talk to each other to resolve the matter, with the goal of closing the camps by September 30.
The applicants, the Gauteng provincial government and the City of Johannesburg must file progress reports on their talks by September 12.
They must state how many camps still remain by then and provide details of the people who might still be living there.
That information will help the court decide whether it is in the interests of justice to grant the application for leave to appeal the Pretoria High Court’s decision.
The court gave the government the right to consolidate the camps, and to take down individual shelters if they have been clearly evacuated.
The court also gave it the right to discuss the removal of people not entitled to be in the country to deportation facilities.
Nobody is allowed to be forcefully moved from their shelter, unless for the consolidation of a camp or to be taken to a repatriation facility.
The government respondents are not allowed to harass or intimidate anyone in the shelters and they have to treat the residents there with respect and dignity.
The displaced have to cooperate with the agents of the government for ”all administrative purposes”, and may not canvass or recruit extra people to the shelters.
People who receive a financial benefit for alternative accommodation may be required to leave the shelters.
The matter was postponed to September 16 to give the parties time to comply with the order. — Sapa
Fear
Meanwhile, xenophobia victims said on Friday they fear for their lives if they have to return to the communities they fled.
Most women are concerned about the safety of their children, who are also not at school, said Patrick Chauke, chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on home affairs, during his visit to a shelter for those displaced by the violence in Midrand.
He said the aim of the visit was to also make the refugees understand the importance of reintegration.
”We do no want to force them back to the communities they had left during the xenophobic attacks,” said Chauke.
He said that if reintegration fails, they will be taken to another area.
”We have a responsibility to provide housing, water and sanitation to everyone; this also applies to the foreign nationals,” said Chauke.
On those foreigners who do not have proper documentation, he said the Department of Home Affairs classifies them as illegal immigrants.
Chauke said government officials will have to talk to people living in the Ramaphosa informal settlement to understand their resistance to having foreigners live alongside them.
”We are aware that people in Ramaphosa informal settlement do not want foreigners, but we have to meet with them and understand their reasons for refusing.”
However, reintegration has already taken place in Gauteng’s Alexandra, Diepsloot, Tembisa, Thokoza, Bophelong, and Mohlakeng townships. — Sapa