Govt 'ensures' safe reintegration

2008-07-19 21:45

Johannesburg - The Gauteng government is doing "all it can" to create conditions that are safe enough for people displaced by xenophobic violence to return home, a spokesperson said.

The camps were established in May and June after a number of xenophobic attacks saw thousands of people displaced and in need of shelter.

Thabo Masebe said that the camps were meant to be for only two months, which meant that around the second week of August, they were expected to close.

"We are doing everything we can...to ensure that conditions are created for them to safely return to their homes," said Masebe.

He said calm appeared to be restored to the camp set up in Johannesburg's Glenanda on Saturday after clashes earlier this week.

Masebe said it appeared that there was some confusion there over registration.

Some people feared that the six month legal stay card they would be issued on registering at the camps could cancel out an existing agreement with the Department of Home Affairs.

Masebe said that the cards were merely to find out how many people were in the camps and to give them the six months legal protection if they were undocumented.

He said that people who no longer wanted to be in South Africa also had the opportunity to be repatriated.

- SAPA