Home affairs committee unhappy about refugees’ living conditions at Cape Town temporary shelters

Parliament's portfolio committee on home affairs is not happy about living conditions at temporary shelters for refugees in Cape Town.

The committee visited the Wingfield and Paint City temporary sites on Saturday. The refugees spent months holed up in the Central Methodist Church in the CBD after a protracted protest at UN offices — in  a bid to be moved to other countries. They were moved to the sites to prevent the spread of Covid-19 when the pandemic reached SA’s shores.

“The conditions are abysmal, with no social distancing and no adherence to regulations prescribed by the declared state of national disaster. The conditions place the lives of the refugees in danger and do not conform to the generally accepted living standards for human beings,” Mosa Chabane, the acting chairperson of the committee, said in a statement.

The committee expressed concern about the increasing number of people at the sites, “which brings into question the bona fides of some of the members of the group”.

It felt the accommodation of refugees at the “sites is unsustainable especially in the context of the non-existence of encampment policy in SA”. It also expressed concern about the conditions women and children are exposed to at the sites and called for reintegration.  

“The committee re-emphasises its call for reintegration of the refugees into communities they were in before the protests. It also said a comprehensive exit plan that includes reintegration into society must be urgently implemented through co-operative stakeholder action,” Chabane said.

The committee re-emphasised its call for deportation of refugees back to their home countries after all proper provisions of the law have been followed in cases where integration is impossible, it said.

It also urged the department of home affairs to urgently complete individual refugee verification status of all the refugees housed at the temporary sites.

After the visit, the committee said it would invite the refugee appeal board to “ascertain impediments that stand in the way of processing appeals lodged as per the refugee appeal board rules”.       

Papy Sukami, chairperson of the refugees community in Western Cape, shared the committee’s sentiments. He described the conditions at the sites as a catastrophic.

“The conditions we are facing now are another xenophobic act,” said Sukami.

“Those marquees were just erected there, no mattresses and blankets were provided. Some NGOs and churches brought some blankets during winter but we have not been cared for by the authorities. There is no social distancing here. This is another form of xenophobia. We are calling on the UN to intervene and solve this situation. It is the UN’s responsibility. They cannot just leave us to the SA government. SA has got its own problems — problems of unemployment and housing.”  

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