Cape Town to remove refugees in the wake of coronavirus
The City of Cape Town is set to remove refugees from various
areas around the CBD in the wake of coronavirus outbreak in
the Western Cape province.
The Department of Health on Saturday announced 240 cases of Covid-19 nationwide, with Western Cape recording 74 infections.
The refugees have been occupying spaces around the Cape Town CBD since 2019.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has issued a ban of 100 people gathering in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.
The city’s MMC for Safety and Security JP Smith says that the city has already begun with the removal of refugees.
“At the moment the city is enforcing by-laws of which is not allowed on structures to sleep on the sidewalks, the court made a final order this week which we waited for quite some time. The city is now fully authorised to continue enforcement of its by-laws and issued notices for the people on the side-walks.
“We also cleared some of the side-walks and arranging with the cleansing department to come do some further cleaning.”
Smith adds the city is attempting to secure temporary accommodation.
“The refugees cooperated fully, and the next stage is that the persons with the notices of fines issued will have to pay these fines or face arrest. There are no other options available at the moment. Not national, provincial or local government is in a position to supply accommodation to people involved and the court also did not compel any such of accommodation.
“The refugees, in this case, have been offered shelter accommodation by the city, we have engaged all night shelters and communicated with refugees so that they know that there are options available,” says Smith.