Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers has expressed concern over more than 2,000 undocumented Zimbabwean nationals who spent the evening at the Home Affairs Department's repatriation centre in Epping, Cape Town, on Sunday.
The group comprises women and children, mostly babies.
They had spent several nights on the pavement outside the Zimbabwean Consulate in District Six, hoping to be assisted with repatriation.
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Gift of the Givers project manager Ali Sablay said there had been frustration from some undocumented Zimbabweans because they had been under the impression that the Home Affairs repatriation centre would issue them with travel documents.By Sunday night, most of the Zimbabweans had been captured on the department's systems and were awaiting travel documents, which would come from the Zimbabwean Consulate.
"We are sitting with a bigger dilemma - the people that are here, once they are processed, where do they go to from here? Home Affairs do not have the capacity, does not have the mandate to accommodate these people. Many of these people that would be out in the open during the night and during the course of the week, the Zimbabwean Consulate is trying to get accommodation that can accommodate 2,000 people, as Home Affairs has made it clear that they already have bookings of close to 800 people tomorrow, on Monday morning.
"Gift of the Givers teams are providing the largest humanitarian aid for these residents. We are providing them with their three basic meals, breakfast, lunch and supper. We are seeing to their humanitarian needs in terms of blankets, bottled water, sleeping mats, hygiene packs and baby care packs.
"We do know there's an overwhelming number of mothers with babies here who require not only the relevant humanitarian aid, many of them have raised concerns that some of the babies have to go to clinics, but without the proper documentation, they cannot access the clinics, or they are quite scared. When they go out into these areas, the buses will come, and they will be left behind."
