Aid agency Oxfam on Monday joined the call against the closure of camps sheltering people displaced by xenophobic violence.
The closure of the camps will mean people being forced to go back to places without a guarantee of their safety and without proper support from the government, Oxfam said in a statement.
On Monday, the Constitutional Court hears an application on behalf of the displaced to keep camps open until a ”proper” reintegration plan is presented.
The camps were supposed to have closed last Friday, but the Gauteng provincial government said it will wait to hear from the Constitutional Court before going ahead.
Director of Oxfam in South Africa, Shehnilla Mohamed, said Oxfam supports the role of the government in finding a durable solution for the people displaced by the recent xenophobic violence, including the eventual closure of the camps.
”However, the conditions and processes required for safe, accountable and voluntary reintegration of the 5 000 people sheltered in camps in Gauteng have not been met.”
The government needs to follow the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
The guiding principles are used globally and specify that conflict resolution, safety of returning people and support in the recovery of property and possessions must be ensured.
Meanwhile, the Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) said it is trying to finalise the once-off payments to the displaced to help them find somewhere to live.
Thabile Maphosa, director of the Johannesburg project office, said the office had finished about 1 000 assessments for the grants at the Rand Airport shelter in Germiston. Some people living there had complained they had to provide a bank account number to get the money, something not everybody has.
So, the JRS is considering alternative payout arrangements that include paying money into landlords’ accounts.
Some people have also asked friends if they can use their bank account numbers to receive the money.
The JRS believed it will not be safe for the recipients to walk around with large amounts of cash.
The Constitutional Court hearing is expected to start at 2pm.
Meanwhile, although some hostility continues towards immigrants in South Africa, many foreigners have been reintegrated with their communities, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula said on Monday.
Speaking in Pretoria at a conference on xenophobia, Maphisa-Nqakula said: ”Communities affected by the violence have engaged amongst themselves and although hostility still continues in a few communities, the vast majority of those displaced have been reintegrated,” she said.
”It will take time for wounds to heal. There is no room for arrogance,” she said, adding that the loss of more than 60 lives in the xenophobic attacks was due to ”pure criminality”. — Sapa