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Durban - About 200 foreign nationals who sought a safe haven at a refugee camp during the recent xenophobic violence that rocked Durban are refusing to be relocated.
A statement released by the eThekwini Metro municipal spokesperson Tozi Mthethwa on Monday afternoon expressed the municipality’s concern at health conditions in the Isipingo camp.
According to the statement, an estimated 200 “African immigrants” were refusing to be accommodated at a refugee camp in Durban’s Chatsworth area.
“On Saturday, the Municipality brought four buses to the shelter in Isipingo to assist the remaining African immigrants to move to an alternative shelter in Chatsworth after consulting with them.
“However, after the temporary shelters were dismantled and other services were disconnected, such as water and electricity, the immigrants reneged on the agreement and refused to be transported to Chatsworth.”
The statement went on further to blame “some parties seeking to score cheap political points by using the plight of African immigrants for their own selfish reasons to render the City ungovernable”.
Municipal spokesperson Gugu Mbonambi told News24 that the municipality “has reasons” why it could not name the party.
At the end of April, EFF leader Julius Malema visited the camp and distributed blankets and last week Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini accused the EFF of attempting to score cheap political points.
According to the municipality’s statement released on Monday, 681 people that had been accommodated at the Isipingo camp had been repatriated to their respective countries.
The statement quoted eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo as saying that the biggest concern was over hygiene conditions in the camp.
“Our concern as government is that currently in Isipingo there are no services including ablution facilities, water and electricity as our agreement with the displaced African immigrants was that they be relocated to Chatsworth. Our biggest concern is that the environment they are living in is unhygienic and not safe especially for women and children,” he said.
