All six shelters accommodating foreign nationals displaced by the xenophobic attacks of May will be closed within two weeks, the Gauteng provincial government said on Thursday.
”Based on the good progress made on the integration process, we are convinced that the remaining 3 000 people who are still accommodated at the shelters will use the two weeks to either return to their homes or find alternative accommodation,” provincial social development minister Kgaogelo Lekoro said.
The shelters will be closed on August 15 and services such as water and electricity will be cut a day later.
Lekoro said it had never been the intention of the government to create permanent settlements for foreign nationals.
”Foreign nationals have lived in South Africa for many years and through their stay here they have lived side by side with locals,” he said.
When the shelters were established it was made clear that these were temporarily shelters to provide urgent humanitarian relief to the displaced foreign nationals, while the conditions were being created for them to safely return to their homes.
Reintegration had already took place in Alexandra, Diepsloot, Tembisa, Thokoza, Bophelong, Mohlakeng and Gugulethu.
The epicentre of the xenophobia attacks was in Alexandra and they then spread to Ekurhuleni and other parts of the country.
Local government minister Qedani Mahlangu said conditions were now conducive for foreigners to return home. Any form of violence against them would be harshly dealt with.
She said the police would monitor the situation and were ready to take steps to prevent any further attacks in the province.
Mahlangu explained that a number of displaced foreign nationals had either reintegrated themselves or had opted to return to their home countries.
”In Tembisa, for instance, people had already gone to their homes when buses were dispatched to collect them from the police station.”
She indicated that foreigners would not be forced to reintegrate nor would communities be forced to accept them back.
Six temporary shelters were established, three in Johannesburg and three in Ekurhuleni.
Foreigners at the shelters have been given a six-month temporary permit to stay legally in the country. – Sapa