The Harmony Park safety camp is to be closed on Friday and civil society groups say they expect "chaos and homelessness" to follow for asylum seekers, 250 of whom have not yet heard the results of their applications.
Provincial Disaster Management spokesperson Hildegard Fast says the government is committed to closing the camps as soon as possible, but is "working very carefully to understand what the options are" for unresolved cases.
According to a joint city and provincial government statement on Tuesday, 1 968 displaced people from other African countries remain in Western Cape camps.
In Cape Town, the Harmony Park camp is to close on Friday, Youngsfield next Friday and Blue Waters by the end of October.
"Sixty people who have said they want to be repatriated as well as vulnerable people who are young, old, disabled or sick will be accommodated at Blue Waters (until then)," the statement said.
The Treatment Action Campaign's (TAC) Scott Dunlop said: "There is confusion among people living in the camps who don't understand what their options are."
The repatriation process could take several weeks for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to complete. Meanwhile, the foreigners would be sent back into South African communities they feared.
"This is unacceptable."
Dunlop expected "chaos and homelessness" and said civil society groups would monitor developments.
"The government's taking actions that result in people being homeless is unlawful."
But Fast said: "We understand what the legal framework is and we operate within it."
Fast said many asylum seekers had not made themselves available to receive their forms.
Of the 250 awaiting asylum decisions, Department of Home Affairs spokesperson Siobhan McCarthy said a team would return to Harmony Park to see if the applicants were there.
Meanwhile, the UNHCR in Geneva, Switzerland, has announced it is to investigate the response of its Pretoria office to the xenophobic crisis.
The UNHCR's decision follows a 24-page complaint sent to it on Monday by 15 civil society groups and two volunteers in Cape Town.
In a statement, the UNHCR said: "To ensure full objectivity and transparency, an inquiry will be conducted that will include a senior staff member designated by UNHCR's office of the inspector general, one person designated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and one person designated by the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response.
"We will expect a report on their inquiry in the next few weeks."
Yusuf Hassan, spokesperson for the UNHCR, confirmed the statement. The organisation would "wait for the committee's inquiry and its investigation", he said.
Fatima Hassan, of the Aids Law Project, said she was "very pleased" with this "groundbreaking" development. - Cape Times
Provincial Disaster Management spokesperson Hildegard Fast says the government is committed to closing the camps as soon as possible, but is "working very carefully to understand what the options are" for unresolved cases.
According to a joint city and provincial government statement on Tuesday, 1 968 displaced people from other African countries remain in Western Cape camps.
In Cape Town, the Harmony Park camp is to close on Friday, Youngsfield next Friday and Blue Waters by the end of October.
"Sixty people who have said they want to be repatriated as well as vulnerable people who are young, old, disabled or sick will be accommodated at Blue Waters (until then)," the statement said.
The Treatment Action Campaign's (TAC) Scott Dunlop said: "There is confusion among people living in the camps who don't understand what their options are."
The repatriation process could take several weeks for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to complete. Meanwhile, the foreigners would be sent back into South African communities they feared.
"This is unacceptable."
Dunlop expected "chaos and homelessness" and said civil society groups would monitor developments.
"The government's taking actions that result in people being homeless is unlawful."
But Fast said: "We understand what the legal framework is and we operate within it."
Fast said many asylum seekers had not made themselves available to receive their forms.
Of the 250 awaiting asylum decisions, Department of Home Affairs spokesperson Siobhan McCarthy said a team would return to Harmony Park to see if the applicants were there.
Meanwhile, the UNHCR in Geneva, Switzerland, has announced it is to investigate the response of its Pretoria office to the xenophobic crisis.
The UNHCR's decision follows a 24-page complaint sent to it on Monday by 15 civil society groups and two volunteers in Cape Town.
In a statement, the UNHCR said: "To ensure full objectivity and transparency, an inquiry will be conducted that will include a senior staff member designated by UNHCR's office of the inspector general, one person designated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and one person designated by the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response.
"We will expect a report on their inquiry in the next few weeks."
Yusuf Hassan, spokesperson for the UNHCR, confirmed the statement. The organisation would "wait for the committee's inquiry and its investigation", he said.
Fatima Hassan, of the Aids Law Project, said she was "very pleased" with this "groundbreaking" development. - Cape Times
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