Still no deal on refugee camps

2008-08-19 13:09

Johannesburg - The Constitutional Court on Tuesday reserved ruling on an application to prevent the closure of shelters for people displaced by xenophobic violence in Gauteng.

The government has agreed that it will not close the shelters until the court has ruled on the matter.

Earlier, the Gauteng provincial government proposed consolidating the people remaining in shelters on a site that would remain open for no more than a month.

"These are temporary shelters and can remain open," said Premier Mbhazima Shilowa on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the urgent application by lawyers for the refugees that the shelters remain open

But the government would consider consolidating the people remaining at the shelters into one place, and not necessarily at one of the present camps.

No agreement

Lawyers for the displaced and the government were asked by the court to come to an agreement by 10:00 on Tuesday morning but by 11:30am both sides said they could not agree.

The matter has been squeezed into spare moments during a hearing on betting laws.

By tea time the two sides did not yet have enough copies to hand up to the judges and were given the tea break to rectify this.

During the tea break, Shilowa said the government could not be expected to find other accommodation for them.

"Because even for South Africans we have not been able to do so."

The government expected the police to be able to carry out normal policing duties at the camp and wanted residents to not recruit others to go and live there.

Lawyer for the displaced, Nadine Fourie, later told the court that sticking points included their request that 10 days' notice be given before the shelters were consolidated, and that residents there be allowed to apply for Home Affairs documentation before being repatriated.

They would agree that residents not canvass or recruit people who do not presently reside in the shelters, and asked for a register to allow people who leave for the day to have their tents kept, instead of being pulled down.

- SAPA