Rev Alan Storey fed up with refugee leaders, considering church's options

The reverend who runs the Central Methodist Mission on Cape Town’s Greenmarket Square has condemned the “fallout between the refugee leadership” at the church.

Reverend Alan Storey said, in a statement on Friday, that this has caused a “volatile” and “hostile” environment in the church.

Services this Sunday have been moved to Observatory’s Methodist Church.

Hundreds of refugees have been staying inside and outside the church in the city centre for months.

Storey wrote that violence broke out on December 29 after a split between two refugee leaders. This forced the police to intervene.

GroundUp has learnt that the leaders were Papy Sukami and Jean-Pierre Balous. Some of the refugees are wearing T-shirts supporting one or the other leader.

Both leaders have since been arrested: Sukami for robbery, Balous for assault. Sukami was released on bail on Thursday, while Balous will appear in court on Friday.

“As a church we cannot provide sanctuary to violent groups. Nor are we equipped to deal with them. It is within this context that as a church we will now pursue other avenues to address the situation,” said Storey.

The refugees have been protesting for months — previously outside the UNHCR offices on St Georges Mall — before they were forcefully removed in a chaotic scene on October 30. They have been demanding to be resettled, as a group, in another country, a demand that nearly all parties who have attempted to help the refugees have described as unrealistic. Since then, most of the families have been living inside and outside the church.

Storey cited the “ongoing health and safety risks within the overcrowded sanctuary” and the “threat of violence between the groups” as reasons for moving Sunday’s service.

He said that the church has struggled to take steps to prevent fires and the spread of disease. The refugees have been asked to “vacate the sanctuary numerous times”.

This week the refugees, led by Aline Bukuru, founder of Women and Children at Concern (WCC), have been meeting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the home affairs department and the city of Cape Town to organise a safe temporary shelter where UNHCR and home affairs can interview and screen the refugees individually.

However, JP Smith, committee member for safety and security for Cape Town, told GroundUp that a temporary shelter was “not on the cards”.

• This article was first published by GroundUp