JOINT STATEMENT BY ATHOL TROLLIP MP AND JUANITA TERBLANCHE MP DA PARLIAMENTARY LEADER AND DA SHADOW MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUGUST 5 2009

"Parliament for the People: The Cape Town Refugee Centre in Nyanga

Yesterday, along with Deputy Shadow Minister of Home Affairs Masizole Mnqasela and DA Councillors Steven Vubu, Xolile Gwangxu and Patrick Nqgu, we visited the Cape Town Refugee Centre and the Home Affairs office in Nyanga. What follows below is an account of the shocking conditions we found at the Cape Town Refugee Centre.

We have loaded a more detailed report as well as a number of photos of the things we saw and the people we met on our Parliament for the People webpage including the action steps we will now be taking in Parliament in order to address the chaos that currently exists at this centre.

(A series of photos follows below this statement. A full gallery of photos is available at the DA Media Centre, and will also be available on the Parliament for the People webpage shortly.)

Introduction

We decided to visit the Cape Town Refugee Centre for a number of reasons that include that past violence has broken out, the high crime rate around the centre, the recent Cape High Court ruling that the Home Affairs Department has to vacate the Refugee Centre by 30 September due to the harm it is causing to the other businesses in the area, and also because of the recent Hawks arrest of a home affairs official at the centre for allegedly taking bribes in exchange for fake permits.

Lastly, the new Minister of Home Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma visited the centre on the 10 June and she reported that there were many problems that needed to be rectified immediately at the centre, including a lack of proper signage around the building as well as home affairs officials not wearing name badges.

We therefore decided to conduct our own visit to the refugee centre to see whether there had been any improvements since the Minister's visit had taken place nearly two months ago.

After visiting the refugee centre we also visited the Nyanga home affairs office that had opened last December, as a member of the public Nokwamkela Nobula had approached us for assistance. She has been struggling to get an ID book since 2004, so we took her to the home affairs office to find out why she hadn't received one after five years of applying. After finding out that there had been a problem with her fingerprints we successfully helped her reapply for an ID book.

What we saw and found

What follows is a short summary of the many problems we saw and the people we met at the centre (the webpage provides a far more detailed description)

• The Refugees: By 08.30 in the morning there were hundreds of refugees crowded outside the centre hoping to get into the building. We spoke to a number of refugees inside and outside the centre who all had tragic stories to tell us of how they had been coming to the centre for a number of weeks, sometimes months and even years, and were not able to get their permits. This meant they could not find proper work and their children could not go to school. They were also often verbally and physically abused by the security guards at the centre and were attacked and robbed of the few possessions they had when they made their way home after a long, fruitless day. Our webpage provides a number of these stories in more detail and we have also uploaded a video of Hersi Osman Iman, a Somali refugee we spoke to outside the centre;
• The Security Guards: It soon became clear to us that the security guards were the ones who are really running the show at the centre. There were eleven security guards standing outside the centre who were the first point of contact with the refugees. The security guards along with the centre's translator decided who was allowed into the building as well as the waiting rooms. Many refugees told us of the bribes they had to pay to the security guards to get into the building and alleged that the guards gave a cut to the home affairs officials in the building. We also saw security guards working with confidential application files and a senior manager told us that he had seen security guards that morning in possession of a number of refugee permits. Some of the security guards were also hostile towards us and tried to stop us taking photos inside the building. Our webpage provides further details of the role played by the security guards at the centre and also has photo's of the large number of guards standing around.
• The Home Affairs Officials: There was a severe lack of officials outside the building and in the waiting rooms. Many of the officials we did see were also not wearing name badges. The only official clearly visible at all times was the centre's translator who called out the names of refugees who could enter the building (he was never in a RSDO office assisting with interviews). Senior management told us that there were too few staff allocated to the centre, staff morale was low and absenteeism high (specific instances of absenteeism are reported on our webpage).
• The systems in place to process applications: It was clear that no systems existed to ensure the effective and efficient processing of refugee applications. There were no separate queues for first time applicants, for people renewing their permits or for those who had enquiries about their applications. The waiting rooms were packed with refugees sitting and standing around waiting to be helped by an official. The filing system was in complete disarray with files standing in piles all over the place. A tracking notice board in the boardroom also revealed that while thousands of refugees visited the centre on a daily basis only around 140 permits were issued a day. While senior managers told us the hours of the centre had been extended to the 8pm since the Minister's visit, refugees told us they were still chased out the building around 4pm. We have uploaded a number of photos of the large crowds, the packed waiting rooms, the disorganised filing system and the tracking notice board onto our webpage.
• The Infrastructure at the Centre: The building outside was in a state of collapse. Large parts of the fencing outside was destroyed due to the violence that had occurred over a year ago; A window was broken, and there seemed to be only one set of toilets in the second waiting room available to approximately 1 500 refugees who visit the centre on a daily basis.
• Furthermore, it was evident that the Department would not be able to vacate the premises by the 30 September deadline. Senior management also told us that while the Department has identified a piece of land for new premises in Maitland, this had fallen through and that the Department of Public Works was currently looking into the issue. It was clear that the Department would have to submit a court application requesting an extension be granted to vacate the premises. Our webpage has more detailed information of the poor state of the infrastructure at the centre as well as a number of photos.

Our action steps in Parliament

It is clear from our visit that there have been no improvements at the centre since the Minister's visit in June. We believed that the current situation at the centre is one that is highly volatile and it is highly likely that more violence will break out at the centre in the future. The Department's inability to efficiently and effectively process refugees who visit the centre also fuels the possibility of further xenophobic violence as these refugees remain stranded in informal settlements competing with local nationals for already scarce resources.

We believe that immediate action needs be taken at the centre to address the chaos that currently exists and we will be taking the following steps in Parliament:

• We will be asking a range of parliamentary questions on problems at the centre as well as issues brought up by refugees;
• We will request that the Department of Home Affairs appears before the portfolio committee to report on the refugee centre and to present concrete plans on how to deal with the many problems we have seen on our visit;
• We will request that the Department of Public Works appear before the portfolio committee to give a report on the progress made regarding securing a new premises for the centre as well as how long this relocation will take;
• We request a meeting with the security division of the home affairs department to discuss the many problems surrounding the security guards at the centre and to come up with concrete solutions to these problems; and
• We will also call for the portfolio committee to conduct an oversight visit to the refugee centre as this had not happened since the refugee centre has moved from Customs House in the foreshore to Nyanga

We will provide continuous feedback on the replies received to our parliamentary questions, on the outcomes of the portfolio committee meetings and the meeting with the security division as well as the oversight visit conducted by the home affairs portfolio committee on our campaign webpage.

Issued by the Democratic Alliance, August 5 2009

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