`This is a national embarrassment`: Cape Town refugee office under fire again

Source: Timeslive, 05/06/2018

As he waited outside the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office on
Tuesday‚ a man seeking to renew his permit said conditions at the
office had deteriorated over the 14 years he had been in South Africa.
“It’s pathetic‚” said the man‚ who declined to give his name.
He was one of dozens of people queueing at Customs House on the
Foreshore‚ which has been at the centre of a legal battle over the
Department of Home Affairs’ decision to close the office to new
applicants in 2012.
Last September‚ the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered the department to
reopen the office. The Constitutional Court dismissed an appeal‚
telling home affairs to have the office fully reopened by March 31.
It has yet to do so.
The DA home affairs spokesman‚ Haniff Hoosen‚ who visited the office
on Tuesday‚ said it was a mess‚ with unsuitable office equipment‚
poor facilities‚ long queues and lack of security.
“There are... hundreds of people sitting in there‚ all of whom are
very desperate and under a lot of pressure and frustrated by waiting
for so many hours‚” he said. “That’s a recipe for disaster.”
Hoosen said Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba should answer to the
parliamentary portfolio committee for why the office had not yet
fully reopened to new applicants.
Home affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said the department was
working with the Department of Public Works to find a suitable
building. “Home Affairs doesn’t have the power to go and occupy a
building‚” he said.
Hoosen pointed to other issues with the refugee office‚ saying its
treatment of refugee and asylum seekers is xenophobic.
“The manner in which our government is treating people‚ from
especially African countries‚ is just really‚ really sad‚ and it’s an
embarrassment to who we are‚” he said.
His assessment was echoed by Tendai Bhiza‚ who came to South Africa
from Zimbabwe in 2004 to seek asylum. She said at one point she had
to make up excuses to get into the building‚ then had to sneak around
until she found the proper office.
“For us to enter that door‚ it was like a gold mine‚” said Bhiza‚ who
now works with the NGO People Against Suffering‚ Oppression and
Poverty‚ which campaigns for the rights of refugees‚ asylum seekers
and immigrants.
Tshwete criticised Hoosen for taking his concerns to the media before
going through the portfolio committee.
“If we really want to make a long-lasting solution to the problem‚
let’s make progress on the real issues‚” he said.