IN PICS | ‘Karma will get Jacinta,’ says refugee as home affairs move 278 people to Lindela

That was the parting shot to March and March founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma from Princess Adjei, spokesperson for a group of refugees who lived outside the home affairs office on Che Guevara Road in Durban for the past four months, as they prepared to board a bus to the Lindela repatriation centre in Gauteng on Tuesday.

About 400 people, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and Rwanda, who lived in the temporary, makeshift camp under difficult conditions with a few mobile toilets, came under attack from March and March in the past two weeks.

The documented refugees and asylum seekers who fled their homes after violence, evictions and intimidation in the run-up to the June 30 anti-illegal migrant protest have lived on the busy road outside the department of home affairs refugee office since May 20.

A protest on September 3 descended into chaos, with police using teargas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters during a tense confrontation with the migrants. At least three people were injured and one person was arrested.

Last Thursday about 300 March and March members gathered in Durban again, led by Ngobese-Zuma, who carried a traditional mat, saying they were prepared to sleep on the road to make their point.

March and March have described the camp as an eyesore and health hazard and claimed some refugees were criminals who robbed businesses, homes and pedestrians in the area.

Businesses in the area also said the refugees had negatively affected their trading and called for the government to rehome them to provide safe, secure and hygienic living conditions.

On Tuesday, home affairs confirmed five buses would transport 278 people to the Lindela repatriation centre in Krugersdorp.

Spokesperson Ndileka Cola said the order was given by the interministerial committee (IMC) on migration after some of the refugees agreed to relocate to Lindela.

Cola said all the refugees, including those who didn’t want to be taken to Lindela, had to leave, as the area would be cleared in accordance with municipality bylaws.

There was much commotion as refugees packed their belongings with the aid of NGOs to board the buses or arrange transport while police and private security kept an eye on proceedings.

Adjei, who is Congolese and Ghanian, said the refugees were regularly attacked and sworn at, and life was difficult with people getting sick and at least two deaths.

Refugee Princess Adjei who has lived on the street for four months, has chosen to be taken to the Lindela repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp. She says March and March has made their life unbearable . 📹: @sandysndlovu pic.twitter.com/CTM5jaIA6m

“It’s been very bad and frustrating. Jacinta and March and March are really bad and hectic. What they have been doing to us is wicked and inhumane. I don’t know what kind of a human being Jacinta is, because she’s a mother, and yet she didn’t think about the kids who were living here. She didn’t think about the old women and men. All she wanted was her own selfish reasons to get her agenda. Karma is a b..ch. She will soon find karma.”