Cape Town City files urgent application to deport foreigners

Capetown To Deport Foreigners, Files urgent Court Application

Foreigners in the City of Cape Town face a bleak festive season after the City applied an urgent court interdict to have them arrested and deported back to their countries of origin.

The group, who have been camped at the Methodist church in Greenmarket Square are refusing to be deported back to their countries citing persecution and death. The group has been living in the corridors of the Waldorf Arcade for the almost a month, in the hopes of catching the attention of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Cape Town City council is not happy with the group “polluting” the city and say the conditions are not conducive for human settlement therefore they need to be “removed”.

Earlier in November, under a court order, the same group consisting of women and children was arrested but later released.

As such, residents and businesses in the area have complained to the City about the smell of urine, litter and open fires.

The spokesperson for the foreign nationals, Papy Sukami, previously said they would oppose the interdict, and were currently looking for alternative accommodation. They want the UN to find them another country to take them to. They said, however, while they were afraid of xenophobic attacks, they could not return to their home countries because of safety concerns.

Sukami said they were trying to find alternative accommodation, adding he could not go back to the Democratic Republic of Congo because of safety concerns. The City also wants the national and Western Cape police commissioners to use their powers of arrest in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, and for the Department of Home Affairs to do its

work in terms of the Immigration Act, including using its powers of arrest.

The city argued that business was dropping, with cancellations at hotels on the square on the rise, while Greenmarket Square traders said they were losing a third of their space but were still being expected to pay rent.

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