Wyndham Hartley
26 May 2008
Cape Town — In three days of xenophobic violence in Cape Town more than 10,000 people had been displaced, necessitating the creation of five "safety sites" to take care of the foreigners' safety, Democratic Alliance leader and city mayor Helen Zille said yesterday.
The violence erupted on Thursday night, after a community meeting organised by the African National Congress went horribly wrong and triggered an orgy of looting.
Addressing a news conference, Zille said the city, in partnership with welfare agencies, was providing food, shelter and aid to 8700 of the refugees; 1300 more were being sheltered by churches.
"The first priority is to secure the safety of all people who have been threatened or displaced. Recognising the extensive need, the City of Cape Town's disaster management centre has allocated five temporary secure areas or safety sites where displaced people can receive basic accommodation and support, with law enforcement officers present to ensure that they are safe.
"We are moving them into our main safety sites so that they can be registered and properly protected. We cannot provide adequate support and security to venues dispersed across the city."
She urged refugees receiving support from the city to cooperate with officials during the process of moving them from halls to safe areas.
The five safety sites are: Silverstroom near Atlantis, Soetwater near Ocean View ( full), Harmony Park in Strand, Youngsfield military base in Ottery ( full), and Blue Waters in Strandfontein.
"We are grateful to (Defence) Minister (Mosiuoa) Lekota for making this venue (Youngsfield) available, and he agreed to make capacity for about 600 available at the navy base in Simon's Town.
"To meet people's needs and manage the situation, the government needs to register those displaced. This will enable them to plan their futures, make travel arrangements if necessary and inform the governments of the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Burundi of their citizens' plight," Zille said. Many people might seek to return to their home countries, she said.
To speed up the process, "we urge the home affairs department and United Nations High Commission on Refugees to mobilise their staff and procure further contract staff to register refugees urgently".
Zille thanked Capetonians who had volunteered their services and resources in the crisis.
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