Plight of protesting refugees still not addressed

TODAY, three years ago, a group of about 500 refugees started a sit-down protest outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offices at the Waldorf Arcade in the CBD.

It was a protest against their eviction from where they had been living and one that they had never imagined would last as long as it has.

On October 30, 2019, Public Order

Police were called in to evict the group of refugees; violence erupted and many were arrested, injured or both. Many were women and children. A day that many who were present will not easily forget.

After being forcefully removed they were given refuge at the Central Methodist Church in Cape Town, camping between the pews and wherever else the desperate group could find a space for the many families, most of whom were still trying to recover from their traumatic experience.

After months of living in and around the church in Greenmarket Square, during a time when the whole of South Africa was placed under lockdown due to Covid-19 they were once again forced to relive the trauma when they the forcibly removed from the church and taken to marquees in Maitland and Paint City, Bellville.

“Our request was simple, all we wanted when we started our sit-in protest outside the UNHCR offices, was to leave the country because we wanted safety, a future for our children, because of the killing of our people, because of xenophobia” says Mr Hafiz Mohammed, refugee leader at Paint City Bellville.

According to Mohammed it is by the grace of God that they survived the lockdown and Covid-19 period, because they had received little to no medical assistance and their living conditions were very unhygienic. “They just dumped us here like trash in a dustbin”

When the group arrived at the Bellville location, they were given showers and toilets, over time all the showers were removed and just this week more than half the toilets were taken away. Today they only have eight portable toilets that they also use to wash themselves.

The majority of the refugees comprise of women and children, some of the children were born into these circumstances, for them this is all they know. A marquee housing more than 500 people is their home.

David Hlabane, spokesperson for Home Affairs did not respond to several queries regarding the status of refugees in the camp.

HENK KRUGER African News Agency (ANA) A WOMAN holds up her red-stained hands after police used inked water to try and remove protesting refugees from the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees at the Waldorf Arcade in 2019. |

BRENDAN MAGAAR African News Agency (ANA) REFUGEE Rafeeq Mohammad, from Bangladesh, washes himself. The group of refugees were moved from the Central Methodist Church to Bellville. |

BRENDAN MAGAAR African News Agency (ANA) RAMA Lawi, 20, from the DRC. Refugees had been housed at the Central Methodist Mission Church in 2019 and were later moved. |

BRENDAN MAGAAR African News Agency (ANA) A MOTHER trying to hold on to her child while police try to arrest her. |

BRENDAN MAGAAR African News Agency (ANA) REFUGEES inside the Central Methodist church, where they had been housed in 2019. |