About 4 000 Zimbabwean refugees staying at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg will be moved according to Gauteng local government minister Qedani Dorothy Mahlangu, the South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Saturday.
Mahlangu said six sites had been identified across the province which could house the refugees for three months.
She said the government would negotiate with the refugees about the move and no one would be forced to leave the church.
”We have been able to identify several places within Gauteng that can house the foreign nationals who are currently residing at the church,” she told SABC news.
”This will therefore enable the church to reduce the overcrowding that has happened there and priority will be given to those who are sleeping in the streets.”
Mahlangu said that the church’s Bishop Paul Verryn and various committees would visit the sites to satisfy themselves that the locations were suitable for people to be living in.
Spectre of xenophobia
Last week, the United Nations Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) warned that preventing the transportation of refugees from the border town of Musina to Johannesburg was likely to ignite xenophobic attacks in the Limpopo town
”The UNHCR is caught between a rock and a hard place because you need to maintain fluidity in Musina. We can’t afford congestion because as soon as the two alternative shelters have overflow, then there will be problems with residents. Xenophobic attacks could erupt,” said the organisation’s coordinator Bruno Geddo.
He said it was vital for the Gauteng provincial government to lift a ban that prohibits the UNHCR from transporting Zimbabweans to Johannesburg.
”It isn’t right for [the UNHCR] to bring these people into the city. They should have had the decency to communicate to the city [their plans],” said Themba Sepotokele, spokesperson for the provincial department of local government .
”If they had communicated to the city we would not be having this crisis,” said Sepotokele.
The UNHCR has denied responsibility for the situation. They said Zimbabwean refugees in Musina, who had their papers but not the funds to travel further into South Africa, were only provided with transport. – Sapa