Most foreigners face deportation
Steve Hayes
officials at Cape Town�s safety sites.
Richard Sikakane, manager of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office in Nyanga,
told The Times yesterday that the foreigners do not want to co-operate with
his staff.
Last week the department started interviewing foreigners to assess whether
they qualify for refugee status � most did not.
Rejection letters stated the foreigners could appeal this decision or face
deportation within 30 days.
A total of 2200 foreigners are being housed at three safety sites in the city;
some need to be interviewed, others face deportation.
They were displaced following xenophobic violence four months ago. Sikakane�s
office also faced relentless crowds of foreigners seeking asylum.
A crowd of foreigners stormed the office demanding assistance, and police
fired rubber bullets at them when they would not disperse.
The province�s premier, Lynne Brown, made a �courtesy call� to the centre
yesterday, but did not speak to the media. Sikakane said that Brown was
stepping in to assist.
�She has indicated that she will engage a number of people. I am sure she�s
also going to meet our [home affairs] minister. She will also talk with the
[Cape Town] mayor. I am hoping for some form of intervention,� said Sikakane.
He said his office dealt with up to 700 asylum seekers a day and that its
location in Nyanga was inadequat e.
It is the third time the office has moved. Hildegard Fast, head of the
provincial disaster management, said the local government wants to close the
safety sites later this month. Housing displaced foreigners cost the Western
Cape�s government more than R104-million.
# One NGO that has chipped in, the Treatment Action Campaign, said it would
hold a �thank you get- together� today for its members and volunteers who have
assisted displaced foreigners since May.
Roger Conroy
"Steve Hayes" <haye...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:g48be4lv96he6limg...@4ax.com...
> FEAR of being deported has spurred displaced foreigners to resist home
> affairs
> officials at Cape Town's safety sites.
>
> Richard Sikakane, manager of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office in
> Nyanga,
> told The Times yesterday that the foreigners do not want to co-operate
> with
> his staff.
>
> Last week the department started interviewing foreigners to assess whether
I really don't understand what all the wailing and gnashing of teeth is
about.
If foreigners are here without a passport and visa or residence permit of
some sort and don't qualify as legitimate refugees then they should be
thrown out ASAP! If our so called border control and immigration services
actually did their jobs instead of sitting on their fat arses all day the
scum wouln't get in in the first place!
But no! we legitimate South Africans must be made to feel guilty for
"xonephobia" - what a joke!
Just a brief reminder for those who don't quite understand the correct
meaning of the term "refugee":
1. A person who's home country is in a state of war
and
2. who leaves his home country to flee a real threat to his/her life
and
3. upon arriving in his/her destination country applies for official refugee
status
and
4. is granted such status by the destination country.
Failure to comply with any one of the preceding means that person is not a
refugee.
P.S. An applicant who has complied with steps 1 to 3 and is awaiting the
outcome of step 4 is supposed to be accomodated in a UNHCR monitored secure
housing facitity. South Africa does not have any such facilities except for
the temporary ones that they are now closing.