Xenophobia update

I am relieved to say that refugee shelters will remain open for the time being:

Shelters to stay open, for now

"Johannesburg - The shelters for people displaced by xenophobic violence will remain open until a final ruling is received from the Constitutional Court, Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa said on Tuesday.

"It [closing the shelters] would be in contempt of the court," Shilowa said after the court concluded hearing an urgent application to keep the shelters open until a reintegration plan was produced.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday reserved ruling on the application, while the government has agreed it will not close the shelters until the court has ruled on the matter.

Jonathan Klaaren, a lawyer associated with the application by the displaced, said: "This gives the parties time to agree on an order." "

The representatives of the refugees share my opinion on whether government had "done enough" to help these people:

Govt 'no help to refugees'

"Johannesburg - The government had done nothing to help victims of xenophobic violence be reintegrated into communities, the Constitutional Court heard on Monday.

All it had done was extend the deadline for the closure of the shelter camp to give refugees more time to make their own arrangements, the Court was told by Advocate, Nadine Fourie.

It was only after a High Court ruling last week that the government undertook to help those who approached it with specific needs, she submitted. "

Ostriches

Yes, I know, they don't really stick their heads in the sand. But the South African government does on a regular basis.

The xenophobia violence of earlier this year caused the violent deaths of 62 people (among them 21 South African citizens), displacement of and suffering for many thousands of people. People who were once friends, neighbours and colleagues were suddenly targeted by angry mobs. Some of the violence occurred only a few streets from where I live, and we feared for the safety of friends.

Now the government has claimed that they have "done enough" for the victims of xenophobia and are forcing them to either go back to the communities where they were attacked, or the countries they fled.

Unfortunately, most of these people no longer have homes - many of them lived in informal settlements and their "houses" and possessions were looted and sold as scrap by their erstwhile neighbours. What I consider to be some of the underlying issues - poverty, disillusionment, and a sense of being disempowered - have by no means been addressed. So what does our government think will happen when these traumatised, now destitute, people are forced to return to hostile communities?

Blithely disregarding these questions, however, the government started dismantling camps three days before today's deadline, despite - or perhaps in response to - an application by The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa and the Wits Law Clinic to keep the camps open for two months.

There is no reintegration plan, no provision at all for their future. They are supposed to go back to places where many of their fellow foreigners had been attacked, raped and murdered. Those who don't leave the camps will be considered trespassers and dealt with as such by our merciful government.

I shall be keeping an eye on the situation, and will post more information as the situation unfolds. Please spare a thought for the people returning to possible violence and certain misery, and for a once-promising Rainbow Nation gone horribly wrong.