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Refugee camp hearing continues

2008-08-19 10:33

Johannesburg - Lawyers for the State and a group of people displaced by xenophobic violence will return to the Constitutional Court on Tuesday in the hope of settling whether shelters for the displaced should remain open.

On Monday the judges suggested mediation as a possible solution to the dispute over the future of the temporary shelters set up to house the victims of the violence.

More than 60 people were killed, hundreds injured and nearly 20 000 displaced in a wave of xenophobic violence which started in Alexandra, Johannesburg, on May 12 and swept through the province and other parts of the country.

Gauteng authorities set up seven tent camps to temporarily house the displaced. One of the camps had since been closed.

Camps to stay open for now

The provincial government originally planned to close the rest by July 31, but extended the deadline to August 15. It has since undertaken not to close the camps until the matter was finalised.

The Constitutional Court judges questioned why lawyers for the refugees did not appeal directly to the Pretoria High Court, which last week dismissed their application to keep the camps open until the government produced a reintegration plan.

The foreigners were asking the government to come up with a reintegration plan, publish it for public comment within 30 days and implement it within 60 days.

Their lawyers argued that the matter was urgent and, because they felt it was in the interests of justice, the Constitutional Court was the best option.

The Gauteng provincial government believed many of the displaced had safely returned to their communities and so the rest should be able to do so too.

People interviewed at the camps have said they were too scared to go back to the same places and that they didn't have money for accommodation.

The Jesuit Refugee Services were paying a once-off grant for accommodation. The money had to be paid into the bank account of the displaced person, or to a landlord. This, said the intended recipients, was difficult because they didn't have bank accounts, or the landlords wanted cash.

- SAPA

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