Release of refugees welcomed

2009-07-07 07:28

Johannesburg - Human rights organisations welcomed the release of more than 300 Zimbabwean refugees on Monday, saying their arrests had been unreasonable.

"Dropping the spurious charges of loitering strengthens our conviction that homeless people are being targeted just because they are homeless and vulnerable," said Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and the Aids Law Project in a joint statement.

The charges were withdrawn in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Monday following the arrests on Friday night in the vicinity of the Central Methodist Church.

"The LHR, LRC and the ALP were prepared to represent the homeless and refugees in court. However, the prosecutor decided not to proceed with the charges because there was no basis to prosecute," they said.

Arrests cause outcry

The prosecutor could not be immediately reached for comment and Johannesburg police spokesperson Julia Claassen could not immediately comment.

The arrests on Friday caused an outcry from human rights organisations with the LHR, LRC and ALP describing the arrests as "heavy-handed" while Doctors Without Borders said police had mishandled the people when arresting them.

But community safety MEC Khabisi Mosunkutu disputed this, saying the arrests had not targeted foreign nationals.

"The issue here is not the foreign nationals who need shelter. The issue is the fact that there are hundreds of people living on the street in front of businesses and blocking the court entrance.

"When you have a situation where a judge can't get into the building because of people blocking the entrance, something needs to be done," Mosunkutu said in a statement on Saturday.

Despite Mosunkutu's statement, the organisations said they were concerned that the arrests "appear to be part of a campaign to drive homeless people out of the city centre".

"They took place regardless of bona fide efforts that are ongoing to try to relieve the homeless crisis in the inner city and to find shelters and care for people in desperate need," they said.

Blind and deaf woman held

Among those arrested was a 58-year-old South African woman who is said to be blind and deaf, a pregnant woman and ten children.

Also welcoming the withdrawal of the charges was Democratic Alliance leader in Gauteng, Jack Bloom.

"The withdrawal of charges against 350 Zimbabwean refugees arrested outside the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg highlights the police fiasco in targeting vulnerable people instead of real criminals.

"It is tragic enough that so many Zimbabweans sleep on pavements in the bitter cold, but police harassment adds to their ordeal. This situation has been allowed to get out of hand because it was ignored for so long by all levels of government," Bloom said.
 

- SAPA