XENOPHOBIC VIOLENCE: CITY INVITES UN TO ASSIST RELIEF EFFORTS

We welcome the critique of the UN official, Mr Arvind Gupta, regarding the safe zones that the City has set up to provide immediate shelter and resources for the thousands of displaced people. We require practical assistance even more, in the form of the resources and expertise of his international organization which has a large Department specifically resourced to deal with crises of international magnitude such as these. The City does not have such resources. We call on the national government to invite the UN to help us address the issue. 

We fully agree that people should be re-integrated into their communities if this is what they want. We have called for a peace-keeping force of the SANDF in order to facilitate this. We have encouraged the churches and NGOs to continue their excellent work in facilitating this process. We cannot, however, force displaced people to return to their communities against their will.

In the same vein, we are not forcing anyone to come to the safety sites we have established, nor are we preventing them from leaving. On the contrary, hundreds of people are demanding entry every day and many of the sites are now full to capacity. We would gratefully accept any venues that can be made available by the Province and additional venues by the Department of Defence.

We cannot process people's needs in scores of tiny locations across the city. We have to make use of economies of scale in the process as we have limited resources. We are doing our best to assist the Department of Home Affairs in processing people's requirements, and have seconded 45 City and contract staff for this purpose. We strongly urge the United Nations High Commission on Refugees and the relevant Embassies to become involved in addressing the plight of the thousands of displaced people who wish to return to their countries of origin.

Community Halls were expressly intended from the outset, to be temporary measures during the height of the violence. This was the commitment given to all involved when I gave the instruction to open the community halls when violence first broke out last Thursday night.

We thank the NGOs for the excellent work they have done in assisting government deal with this humanitarian crisis and look forward to further co-operation with them. We should all guard against emotive and inflammatory language at a time like this.

Statement issued by Mayor of Cape Town Helen Zille May 28 2008