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AS OF next week, the bus collection point beneath the Foreshore Overpass will be terminated, and asylum seekers will report straight to the Department of Home Affairs in Barrack Street.

Asylum seekers were given notice yesterday.

The problematic situation under the Foreshore Overpass began after Home Affairs closed the refugee reception centre at the Foreshore's customs house in February, and replaced it with a bus collecting people twice a day.

The bus was to take asylum see?kers to Home Affairs, with the aim of alleviating a queuing problem in Barrack Street.

After the death of Adonis Musati, a Zimbabwean who starved to death in November last year while wai?ting in the queue, the bus depot was moved to Culemborg.

Originally only 65 asylum see?kers were transported to Culemborg in February, but the number rapidly expanded to between 200 and 300 people. Crime levels rose in the area ?though police could not confirm whether or not the increase was due to the newcomers ? and it was feared that an informal settlement would begin beneath the bridge.

Says Good Hope Subcouncil chairperson JP Smith, "There are not just asylum seekers who have been taking refugee under the Foreshore Overpass. Both South African citizens and refugees fleeing xenophobic violence have recently congregated there. The city is ha?ving to break down 60 to 100 structures every couple of days."

Smith says that the urgency to address the problem arose after the city was inundated with complaints from Foreshore businesses.

Officials came together on Friday to find a solution to the issue. Those present at the meeting included city officials and various representatives of governmental departments.

Smith described the affair as "very satisfactory" and applauded Home Affairs for meeting the city halfway.

Smith says that people in the private sector are trying to arrange accommodation for asylum seekers at backpacking lod?ges. He goes on to say that the city, SAPS, Metro Police, and the CCID are preparing an enforcement plan to help address issues of escalating crime, long queues, and anti-social behaviour.

Clean-up operations at Culemborg will be ongoing to ensure that the area remains problem free.

"There are incredible amounts of litter and rubbish that have been dumped there. It raises concerns as to where all this rubbish has come from. We will continue to exercise proper law enforcement to make sure no informal settlement is established."

Other options were also considered at Friday's meeting, including the relocating of refugees to safety zones, from which buses would take asylum seekers to Barrack Street.

But Smith says this option will not be deemed appropriate until national government takes a policy decision to pursue it, as huge financial implications come with the proposal.

With regards to the people who remain at Culemborg (displaced South Africans and refugees), Smith says that it is up to Disaster Risk Management to deal with, as the province declared the site a disaster area.

Mantshele Tau, spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs, says that as of September, the Nyanga refugee reception centre will have more space and resources available for refugee-related matters. Tau was not prepared to comment on Friday's meeting or on Home Affairs' decision to revert to the original plan of queuing in Barrack Street.

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