South Africa: Refugees Unprepared for Big Move
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Cape Argus (Cape Town)
29 August 2008
Posted to the web 29 August 2008
Ella Smook
Displaced people at the Summer Greens community hall in Milnerton were still fast asleep this Friday morning, an hour ahead of their planned moved to Harmony Park in Strand, which was scheduled for 9am.
This is the second day of removals as government authorities and the police begin the process of reducing the number of safety sites in greater Cape Town from an original 37 to just three.
All was peaceful at Summer Greens as families started waking up slowly in their tiny private areas, constructed from chairs and blankets in an effort to get some privacy.
They told the Cape Argus that although they knew they were being moved on Friday, they had not been told when.
As some started packing their belongings, short-lived but heated arguments broke out between various small groups, while others sat wrapped in blankets, watching the action.
About 120 people were set to be moved from the hall on Friday, along with 106 others from the Richwood Hall in Table View, who were scheduled to be moved at about midday.
Displaced people from Soetwater are set to be moved, along with others still left in the three halls evacuated on Thursday.
Michael Uredi, from the Congo, said people were sad to be moving from Summer Greens, because they had made friends in the community and were facing an uncertain future. They now also had to swop their hall for tents.
He said he did not know what would happen to him and his family because they could not be repatriated to their country of origin, but equally could not reintegrate into local communities.
Half an hour before the scheduled move, police vehicles started arriving, but at the time of going to press government officials and transport had yet to show up.
Relevant Links
Friday's move forms part of a series of moves set to consolidate about 3 200 people who have remained displaced after the xenophobic violence in May, into three sites.
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