Cape Town refugees: City remove group from District Six [video]

Where to now for the Cape Town refugees? 

After being removed from the area surrounding the Central Methodist Church in the Cape Town CBD, the group have now been told to pack up their things and leave Zonnebloem Park, in District Six, where they had relocated to. 

Refugees clashed with police on Sunday 1 March as they were removed from the church premises, and with the group scattering across the city, it seems that they had regrouped in a nearby park.

However, their stay at the park seems to have been a very short-term solution though, as law enforcement agencies arrived mid-morning on Monday to remove them.

Law enforcement officers about to remove #Refugees on the corners of De Villiers and McKenzie in City of Cape Town @Sonkoerant https://t.co/oOO4bSO26E

— Anele Mfazwe (@mfazwe) March 2, 2020

‘Where will we go?’

The refugees say that no one among the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Department of Home Affairs, City of Cape Town and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), has been able to assist them in finding a place to call home away from what they allege is an untenable environment in South Africa.

“We cannot go back to our home countries,” said one member of the group. “We left there because it was not safe, and now we must leave here because it is not safe.”

Any and all suggestions presented to the group and their controversial leaders JP Balus and Papy Sukami were emphatically rejected, with the group seeking repatriation to a First World country.

Evicted from church

The refugees were based at the church for almost five months, but business owners and residents in the popular tourist district lodged multiple complaints against the group who have been appealing to the UNHCR to assist them with repatriation to a country free from xenophobia. 

The City of Cape Town were successful in obtaining a court order against the group that allowed the City to impose bylaws and remove them from the church following complaints of public urination and defecation. 

Metro police arrived at the church to evict the group on Sunday 1 March after they had fulfilled their obligation to the court to establish a facility whereby Home Affairs could process the group. 

The department processed 781 refugees over the past two weeks. 

This is a developing story.