The foreign nationals who have been living at the Methodist Church in Greenmarket Square and those scattered on the streets around Cape Town Central police station, and near the District Six Museum, were on Thursday afternoon relocated by the SAPS.
This comes after Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille and City of Cape Town officials conducted a site visit at Paint City, Bellville, where temporary accommodation for refugees was being erected on Tuesday.
Initially, the refugees rejected the site as “throwing us out is not the solution” amid the Covid-19 outbreak, said Aline Bukuru, one of the refugee leaders.
“It is exposing us and our children to the coronavirus. It’s not easy to control 6 000 people, so we need them to consider that point.”
Cape refugees were removed on Thursday and were being transported to a shelter in Bellville. Video: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency
Bukuru said they were fearful of a repeat of the trauma when the refugees were first removed from St George's Mall back in October last year.
"During this time of the coronavirus we’re supposed to be protected and not to be harmed. We cannot allow for the police to have the same thing happen again.
“We do understand the situation of the coronavirus outbreak, but do you think the solution is throwing people outside?” Bukuru asked.
Despite their reluctance to move, police arrived on the scene and made their way into the church where they then ushered the refugees onto Golden Arrow buses to transport them to Bellville.
Police officers used their shields to stop the refugees from going back into the church.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/Day7?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Day7: #RefugeeCrisis Police arrive at the Methodist church in Cape Town, where the refugees are housed to remove them.
Video: @PJikelo/ @AfriNewsAgency(ANA) pic.twitter.com/9nNZli4IUX
— IOL News (@IOL)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/RefugeeCrisis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RefugeeCrisisThe woman and children who have been staying in the Methodist church are making there way out into golden arrow busses. @TheCapeArgus @IOL pic.twitter.com/qwZRYtk9r3
— Marvin Charles (@MarvinCharles17)
There were three people still inside the church after the first group came out, but all are expected to be moved to the temporary accommodation area.
Meanwhile, the refugees at the District Six Museum were picked up with buses and were relocated to Bellville without incident.
On Tuesday, Minister De Lille said: “I've been working together with the City to look at accommodation for the homeless and the refugees. There are about 6000 homeless people in the City of Cape Town. For now, we've prioritised the refugees because we're very concerned that we're sitting with a time bomb in the church with no social distancing.”
A shelter in Bellville being prepared for the refugees that are currently living on the street and Methodist Church in Cape Town. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)
A shelter in Bellville being prepared for the refugees that are currently living on the street and Methodist Church in Cape Town. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA
Cape Argus