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Both sets of refugees living next to Paint City are set to be evicted, the City of Cape Town says.
When this will happen, however, still remains to be seen.
The refugees, who are split into two groups, have been a contentious issue since they were moved there during the Covid 19-pandemic. Others were moved to Wingfield in Goodwood.
When asked about their plans with the refugees, the City said they were investigating a system where they would segment the City’s Paint City facility “so that both groupings will be separated with different access points”.
The plan in the long term is to remove all the refugees.
“The City, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and national Public Works Department are preparing to submit a joint eviction application to the High Court for those refugees still unlawfully occupying the DHA-run facilities at Paint City and Wingfield,” a City spokesperson said.
There is however no public timeline as to when this will happen, the spokesperson confirmed last week.
alleged xenophobia
Before coming to Bellville, the refugees were living on Green Market Square in Cape Town’s CBD in 2019 where they demanded to be sent to countries outside of South Africa, but not to their home countries, by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). This was due to alleged xenophobia. The UNHCR refused this request.
The refugees then moved to the Central Methodist Church nearby before being sent to Paint City in Bellville and Wingfield in Goodwood in 2020.
At the Paint City site, around 500 refugees lived across the taxi rank, seemingly in harmony, until 2023.
Two groups then started arguing, with one group moving to the sidewalk on Robert Sobukwe Drive. Among other things, the sidewalk refugees claim those on the inside were running a military system and demanding too much money for them to stay there.
At first, the refugees on the sidewalk lived in makeshift plastic tents, but donations of wood have meant their conditions have improved.
Other residents, however, claim their spot on the sidewalk is a danger to all drivers. The shacks block the path and young children can easily be run over.
“I didn’t even know where I was,” Sophia Carlini, from Boston, told TygerBurger about a recent visit to the CBD. She lost her way because she was so shocked. The refugees on the sidewalk say they have no other choice. “We aren’t safe here,” refugee Furaha Minani told TygerBurger last week. “It is very dangerous here.” Their shacks are often flooded, people are constantly sick and they lack access to basic sanitation.
When asked whether they would move to another place in Cape Town, if forced, the refugees said they were scared and would only move if their safety could be secured. One woman said her husband was stabbed.
Children were milling about the site, many who attend local schools.
Minani said there are around 143 people who live on the sidewalk. These include 75 children and around 20 women.
They are petrified of the children’s safety. One woman, Asha Alli Hassan, hurt her leg when she was hit by a taxi after trying to catch a four-year-old who ran into the busy Robert Sobukwe Road.
They don’t know what will happen to them, they said, but this is no way to live.
