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Gauteng to consult Home Affairs before consolidating temporary shelters
28 August 2008
The Gauteng Provincial Government will engage the Department of Home Affairs thoroughly before embarking on any full-scale consolidation of temporary shelters for victims of May's xenophobic violence.
Addressing the media on the outcomes of Wednesday's Executive Council (EXCO) meeting, provincial spokesperson, Thabo Masebe said the government will consult the Department of Home Affairs before consolidating the shelters across the province into one.
"Many of the people currently residing at the temporary shelters have applied for legal status at the Department of Home Affairs. Information from the department is that few of the applicants would be granted such status," Masebe said.
But, because applicants had 14 days to appeal the home affairs decision; the province would honour the Constitutional Court ruling and allow the foreign nationals to stay at the shelters until all processes have been finalised to legalise their stay in South Africa are exhausted.
The Constitutional Court ordered both parties to engage with each other with a view to speeding up the reintegration of those victims who are entitled to be in South Africa into communities and ensure that temporary shelters for the victims are closed by no later than 30 September 2008. The ruling also directs government to take appropriate steps to repatriate to their home countries those victims of xenophobic attacks who are not entitled to be in the Republic of South Africa. The court also ruled that the Gauteng Provincial Government may consolidate existing temporary shelters.
Masebe said there were fewer than 400 foreign nationals in Johannesburg at the moment. Currently, the biggest temporary shelter in the province is the Rand Airport temporary shelter in Ekurhuleni with some 1 500 people.
"As we had said before, the numbers at the shelters are coming down and it is possible that there will be even fewer people at the sites next week," he added.
Masebe also noted that home affairs had fast-tracked the applications for legal status of the foreign nationals at the shelters and would do the same with any appeals.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
28 August 2008
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gpg.gov.za)