Shelters for the victims of a spate of xenophobic violence will have to stay open until the Constitutional Court hears a matter relating to their closure on Monday.
Constitutional Court judges were locked in deliberations on the matter for most of Friday, before issuing a direction at 3.30pm.
In it, the court advised that it would hear an urgent application for leave to appeal an August 12 judgement of the Pretoria High Court at 2pm on Monday.
The hearing would be limited to two issues: whether the application should be brought directly to the Constitutional Court, and if so, whether it should be granted; and whether the court should grant the applicants their urgent interim relief, should the application be refused.
”This court has noted the undertaking provided by the [provincial minister] for local government … and supported by the City of Johannesburg … to the effect that pending adjudication of these proceedings these respondents will not close down any of the shelters that are the subject matter of this application.”
The appeal to the court was brought by foreign nationals Odinga Mamba, Vasco Mitabele, Kiza Milinga Issa and Davidzo Aabidah Maduviko from the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa.
All of them had been granted refugee status or were documented asylum seekers, their attorney of record, Tesneem Bhamjee, noted in an affidavit to the court.
”[They] sought refuge in South Africa because they either face persecution in their countries of origin, or because their lives, safety or freedoms were threatened there,” she stated.
More than 60 people were killed, hundreds were injured and nearly 20 000 displaced in a wave of xenophobic violence that started in Alexandra on May 12 and swept through the province and other parts of the country.
Six shelters, consisting of tent camps, were set up to house the displaced, who initially sought help at police stations and community centres.
On August 12, the Pretoria High Court held that plans to dismantle the shelters were not a violation of their rights. Nothing more could be expected of the government than what had already been done, the court ruled.
The foreign nationals have asked the Constitutional Court to order the government to publish a plan for reintegration of the victims of xenophobic violence within 30 days.
They also asked the court to order the government to implement the plan within 60 days.
Pending the implementation of the plan, they want the dismantling of the shelters stopped, and those already taken down, restored.
Provincial authorities had set Friday as the deadline for the dismantling of the shelters.
Welcomed
Meanwhile, the court ruling was welcomed by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), which has been working at the camps.
”We think this is good. At least we had a stay,” said the NGO’s Alessandra Vilas Boas on Friday.
However, the court’s decision to stay the matter until Monday should be conveyed to the people in the camp in a clear way.
”They must not say Monday ‘you must leave’, but that there is a moratorium until Monday.”
Vilas Boas said there had to be certainty that there would be food for the people on Friday night.
MSF has been providing medical services and has also expressed concern about the mental well-being of the people in the camp after they fled the xenophobic violence.
Earlier in the day at the Rand Airport refugee camp, there was confusion as to the status of the camp, with people packing their belongings and some leaving.
Andrew Musa from Zimbabwe told the Mail & Guardian Online that he had heard on Thursday that he had to leave.
”I don’t know where to go,” he said. ”My shack in Primrose has been taken over by South Africans. Most of us don’t know where to go. A policeman asked me why I don’t go back to Zimbabwe.”
Jaques Kamanda, secretary general of the Coordinating Body of Refugee Communities, said: ”It’s not a case of integration, it’s [now] about legalising people, and it’s a government agenda to get rid of the people. The government is no longer acting on a humanitarian basis, it’s becoming political.”