A group of refugees and asylum seekers camping outside the Department of Home Affairs Refugee office on Che Guevara Road in Durban are calling on government to provide them with a temporary shelter.
The group has been camping on the pavement outside the office for the past seven weeks. They say they were forced to flee their communities after facing alleged threats and intimidation.
Princess Adjei, a 33-year-old from Congo, has been living in South Africa for about three decades on a residency permit. She says it is not yet safe for the group to return to their communities.
“They were attacking us at our workplaces and at home where we were staying. So, we decided to go to Durban central. Then the mayor came in and he said he wanted to verify all of our documents if we were verified. We are all documented. He promised that they are going to give us shelter. He didn’t. They didn’t do anything for us. We have been here for almost seven weeks on the streets. Now they are telling us to leave and go back to the community. How? We not working, we can’t pay our rent. Now which community are we going back to when you don’t have jobs? So now they should give us shelter. Let’s sit in the shelter for everything to go down and then we will look for a way forward to create another job because we have got the skills of our hands.”
Meanwhile, Adejei says life on the streets has become increasingly difficult as they are often robbed of their belongings while sleeping on the pavement.
“It’s been very terrible. Even the paras (thugs) are stealing our stuff now. When you sleep and wake up, the para takes your bag. I’m an example that the para took the whole of my bag, my cosmetics everything went so we are sleeping outside and it’s very terrible. It’s raining and there are kids here, women and old women, they are all sick every day. It’s very terrible out here. It’s just not good.”
Refugees and asylum seekers camp on Che Guevara Road in Durban:
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