They had fled their homes in the townships in 2020 alleging xenophobia.

The foreign nationals were initially allocated the two sites after they were evicted from the Methodist Church building in the Cape Town city centre. The City, the Departments of Home Affairs and Public Works allege that the group has refused to integrate back to communities or accept assistance to be repatriated back to their countries of origin.

SA’s Home Affairs Minister, Leon Schreiber says the problem began during the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Initially, the group was in the city centre, and they were refusing to be relocated. At that time, they were insisting on being repatriated to countries like Canada or other such countries, which is outside our bounds. So over the years, the department of Home Affairs working with international agencies have provided aid but also numerous opportunities for people to be repatriated to their own countries or other offers of assistance but unfortunately, the situation at these places has become out of control,” Schreiber said.

--SABC--