Refugees refuse to be removed back to repatriation centre

A group of protesting refugees has until April 19 to go back to the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp – if not, they will be forcefully removed.

The refugees have been camped outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pretoria since 2019.

They are refusing to leave the curbs of Waterkloof Road, Pienaar and Fehrsen streets – even though they face arrest and forceful eviction.

The over 70 refugees, including children, were on April 13 served notice by the high court of South Africa, in Pretoria, informing them that they will face eviction and be relocated to Lindela.

This is the third order attempting their removal.

The Department of Home Affairs, SAPS, the UNHCR, the social development department, RAB Property Investments (Pty) Ltd and the Brooklyn and eastern areas citizens association and the Waterkloof Homeowners’ Association are all in agreement for their removal.

Failure by the refugees to allow for a smooth relocation process will see the police authorise arrests and detain the perpetrators.

The notice informs the refugees that officials from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) will be on-site to assist all the occupiers and for provision for the transportation of personal belongings to Lindela.

“Once the affected area has been cleared, all remaining structures and items which have been abandoned without arrangements will be removed and disposed of.

“The DHA, SAPS, the office of the Sheriff and/or the City of Tshwane metropolitan municipality will take no responsibility for any losses incurred in the relation to your personal belongings.”

Judge Brenda Neukircher in the order said the refugees would be provided with accommodation at Lindela in a separate section where food, bedding and other necessities were made available.

Neukircher said all families would be kept together at the facility and Lindela would not serve as a detention facility as the refugees would be free to come and go as they please.

The campsite on Waterkloof Road in Brooklyn has grown in size. Make-shift lodgings were erected by protestors from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Burundi and Rwanda, among other areas.

The situation has since become intolerable to residents and homeowners as protesters have been using the sidewalk as a cooking space while close-by corners and shops were at times used as their lavatories.

One of the protesters, Lukombo Kiese said the recent judgment ordering them to be transported to Lindela was an “injustice”.

“We did not ask to be sent to Canada, Europe or America as stated by the UNHRC in documents. We have asked to reside in camps (host communities) elsewhere.

“This decision is unfair and the government courts are taking the side of residents in Brooklyn. There is no justice in this order.”

Kiese said the court order was a humiliation and a disregard for their lives as Lindela was not a favourable centre to reside at, especially for women with children.

“We need our children in schools. A centre that will have running electricity and adequate healthcare.”

She said children who were sent back to Lindela, did not attend schools.

“Lindela is never a solution. We want to leave South Africa, not be sent back to that centre.

“We will not go to Lindela when they evict us. We will rather get shot or go to jail, but never Lindela.”

Kiese said the order sending them back to Lindela was “traumatic”.

Kiese previously told Rekord that they had been “prisoners” at the repatriation centre since they demanded to be taken out of South Africa in 2019 and their children had not been to school since then.

“It’s bad at Lindela. We are mixed with criminals who are also brought to the facility,” she said.

“Healthcare is also a problem at the centre.

“Our children’s lives are in danger.”

It is believed that the group were among the 500 refugees who, along with their children, illegally gained access to the UNHCR in November 2019.

This incident left 24 police officers injured and six were rushed to hospital with serious injuries.

This led to the Brooklyn police station registering a case of trespassing against the group.

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