South Africa: Government to set up shelters for the displaced

JOHANNESBURG, 29 May 2008 (IRIN) - The South African government decided on 29 May to establish small, temporary shelters for foreigners displaced by the recent xenophobic violence, rather than larger, more permanent refugee camps.

The plan calls for the provinces affected by the violence to be declared disaster areas, in order to release funds in terms of the Disaster Management Act. The Gauteng and Western Cape provincial governments are working quickly to locate appropriate sites for the temporary shelters, according to a statement by the government.

To what extent the plan will involve international aid agencies, like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is unclear, although UN officials are consulting with provincial governments and visiting existing temporary shelters.

The South African government stressed that the new shelters should be temporary, and that it intended reintegrating foreigners into their communities.

Paul Mashatile, the acting premier of Gauteng, South Africa's richest province, told local media that 10 temporary places of safety would be established in the province for displaced nationals.

Gauteng was the epicentre of the xenophobic violence that began more than two weeks ago and rapidly spread through many of South Africa's provinces, claiming the lives of at least 56 people. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced and many others have fled to their countries of origin.

At a fractious camp north of Pretoria, in Gauteng, where Somali and Eritrean nationals have been fighting with other nationalities, people were sceptical about the planned reintegration, and were asking for assistance from the UN rather than the South African government.

"We need international help," said Malcolm Guilherme, from Angola, who is staying in one of 44 tents with his wife, daughter and three other families. "This [South African] government is limited. If they want to put people back [into their communities], they must help us. We lost everything, all of our goods. We have to have financial help."

No trust in the government

Benny Ayo, originally from Ethiopia, said many of the foreigners did not trust the South African government, and that was why they were insisting on UN intervention.

"We are refugees," said Ayo, an accountant who said he could not get work in South Africa. "We are waiting. The UNHCR is appointed by the UN to help us. They [the South African government] send us here and ignore us."

Residents at the camp complained that food distributions were infrequent. Guilherme said the four families in his tent received three cans of beans and two of fish for a meal on 28 May, and then nothing until 29 May in the afternoon, when they received bread, soup and oranges, but he complained that it was the first meal of the day, and leaving the camp to buy food was seen as dangerous.

The Pretoria municipality's Emergency Management Services are coordinating the distribution of food contributed by various civil society groups. There is one medical tent in the camp, but immunisations are planned to start soon. The water supply has been intermittent, but showers are planned for the near future.

Besides the temporary shelters, the government's plan will establish special courts to rapidly prosecute those arrested for violence; ensure proper food, clothing and medical supplies; educate affected communities so foreign nationals can return safely, and increase the speed at which basic services are supplied.

A number of people interviewed questioned how they could return to the communities when they had no resources.

"Many people had their own businesses," said Mohammed Dahir, a Somali who has been in South Africa for 11 years. "Some had businesses worth more than R400,000 (US$53,000) and now they have nothing, not even clothes. How are people going to survive? The people who have been hurting us are still there."

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