The MAYOR of Durban, Mr. Cyril Xaba, has urged the MEC of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Dr. Leon Schreiber to intervene in the issue of immigrants living outside the department’s office in the center of Durban.
Xaba said Schreiber should start a program to move them to institutions that keep those who have fled their countries.
He said this comes after the concerns expressed by these people, when they said they were worried about their safety in the places they used to live, and making it difficult for them to return to them.
He stressed that the municipality does not have the proper facilities to keep them, and it is not allowed that they continue to live on the street, where there are no basic services such as water, toilets, food and so on.
He said that the municipality is ready to provide transport as well as the police if the program of their transportation continues, they will be taken to safe facilities that will be provided by the minister.
“I want to emphasize that the immigration offices should be strengthened, corruption should be reduced to ensure that permits are given to people who really want asylum,” said Xaba.
He lamented that Durban continues to face pressure on resources as it has been repeatedly hit by natural disasters. He said there is still a problem in finding a place to live permanently for those affected by the floods. He said there are still a lot of people living in temporary housing throughout Durban.
Xaba said just like this, recently there was a lot of noise on social media, people were admiring the speed with which the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed the documents of 457 immigrants.
They were taken to the department’s offices on Mngeni road on Thursday, and were removed fromDiakonia Centre, in the heart of Durban, where those who desperately wanted to be protected by the police.
Talking to different news agencies, many of them said that they do not have documents, others said that they have expired, and they counted more than 24 years since they arrived in this country.
However, when they were forced to enter the buses to be verified by the department, he found that only two were found to have a problem, out of 455, and the correct documents were found.
People on social media made it clear that it is surprising that the department can do this work in three hours. They did their own calculations which showed that it took the door about 24 seconds, to confirm each person, and it hit them hard.
As it happens, organizations fighting the issue of illegal immigrants such as March and March, led by Mrs. Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, the forces led by Mr. Nkosikhona “Phakelumthakathi” Ndabandaba and Ngizwe Mchunu have not put themselves down, through marches, where the disgusted public expresses its anger.
These protests are seen in different places in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape and other places. There is also a deadline set by Ndababanda to hit June 30 before illegal immigrants in the country are no longer seen. However, this deadline, the police issued a statement clarifying that it is illegal.