The tragic scenes that played out in the city centre on Wednesday were... inevitable.
Refugee families had been camping out in the mall, where the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees’ offices are situated, for about a month.
As the days passed, the number of people - men, women and
children - grew.
The sight of people sleeping on cardboard, mothers making fires to cook, doing laundry, and little kids playing soccer with empty plastic bottles had become a heartbreaking daily norm.
Refugee families camping out in the mall. Picture: Phando Jikelo/ANA
For the hundreds of African foreign nationals, this was their protest against the South African government for failing to: protect their rights; keep them safe from crime; and secure them legal residence.
And it was an appeal to the UN to help them seek passage - not to their home countries, but to an asylum in Canada, apparently.
In the meantime, business in the Waldorf Arcade mall and surrounds had come to a standstill and it was only a matter of time before a court order was granted for the families to be removed.
That happened and the order was executed.
It wasn’t going to be pretty. The “trespassers” were desperate and defiant.
The result was the scenes televised around the world of screaming women and crying children being physically dragged away by cops, amid the sound of stun grenades and water cannons being fired.
FUMES: Stun grenades used to disperse the crowd. Picture: Phando Jikelo/ANA
Yes, it was disgraceful, inhumane and sickening to witness.
You felt for the families.
Not just for what happened that day, not just for their few weeks on the street, but their predicament, in
general.
They had jumped (the border) out of the frying pan and into the oven.
They had fled unrest and hardship in their home countries for a better life in South Africa.
If anyone had told them that this was the land of milk and honey, peace and prosperity, they were woefully
misinformed.
They have had to confront the harsh reality that this is a country with its own problems.
A country where over 20 000 people are
murdered each year.
Where unemployment has risen to 29%.
If they’d read the news before arriving, they’d know our government is struggling to provide basic services to its own citizens.
TELEVISED: Screaming children and mothers
Police have failed to keep locals safe - let alone foreigners.
And there is a Home Affairs backlog of 150 000 refugee status appeals, according to the Director of Asylum Seekers.
If government is already failing to uphold the rights of its own citizens, it is wishful thinking for foreigners to expect better treatment.
Yes, this state of affairs is unacceptable and cannot continue, but, for now at least, this is the reality.
Any South African would warn foreigners not to expect miracles from this government.
Yet, one can’t help asking: where are their own governments in all of this?