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Gauteng displaced figure halved
25/06/2008 17:03 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The number of foreigners displaced by xenophobic attacks in Gauteng has dropped from 9 700 to about 4 000, the provincial government said on Wednesday.
Spokesperson Thabo Masebe said there were about 9 700 displaced foreigners before the provincial government created temporary shelters for them.
By the time the shelters were set up in the first week of June, there were some 6 600 displaced people in Gauteng.
That figure has since then dropped to just over 4 000 as people were reintegrated into their communities or returned to their home countries, Masebe said.
The biggest temporary shelters in Gauteng at the moment are at Glenanda, south of Johannesburg, with 2 000 people, who originally sought shelter at Jeppe and Cleveland police stations.
A temporary shelter in Ekurhuleni near the Rand Airport houses another 1 266 while the remaining people are scattered in shelters across the province.
Masebe said the provincial government hoped to have everyone reintegrated into their communities by the first week of August.
He said the Department of Home Affairs would have to deal with those who are in the country illegally and that it was not the provincial government's prerogative.
"We don't go into the shelters and look at people's identity documents and so on. We work with the communities that are affected to create conditions for them to safely return to their homes.
"The shelters will be dismantled after two months and after that period we hope that we would have done enough to create conducive environments for the displaced to go back to their communities," said Masebe.
The xenophobic attacks started on May 12 in Johannesburg's Alexandra township and spread around the country, leaving at least 62 dead and 17 000 displaced, according to police.
About 1 400 people were arrested.
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