Glenanda refugees stay nameless

Johannesburg - The almost 800 people taken from Glenanda to the Lindela repatriation centre were refusing to provide their personal details to officials, a Home Affairs spokesperson said on Wednesday.

"People are not co-operating very well with us and won't identify themselves," said Cleo Masoma.

Officials were trying to establish whether the group, who had been living at the Glenanda camp for the displaced in Johannesburg, was entitled to stay in South Africa.

The group had been living in one of the camps set up for the thousands of people displaced by the xenophobic violence in May that left over 60 people dead.

They had been given the option of registering for temporary identification cards which would give them legal protection for six months if they were found to be in the country illegally.

Those who refused to register - some feared this might invalidate their existing documents - were moved to Lindela on Tuesday night.

UNHCR helping

Extra capacity was arranged to handle the verification or deportation process, but, said Masoma, this had ground to a halt.

She said that Lindela could not repatriate people "without a name".

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees had stepped in to help resolve the impasse, she said.

Gauteng provincial government spokesperson Thabo Masebe said earlier that Home Affairs officials would check the immigration status of people moved to Lindela.

"If they are found to be in South Africa legally, based on documentation that can be authenticated, they will be free to remain in the country," said Masebe.

He said records of authentic documents destroyed in the attacks could be traced.

"They will be in the system," he said.

- SAPA