Durban refugees may request Lindela move: Home Affairs

The Department of Home Affairs says asylum seekers and refugees who wish to move to the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Gauteng may contact its offices for assistance.

This follows the departure of 274 foreign nationals who were bused to the Krugersdorp facility after living outside the Durban Home Affairs office for four months.

According to a statement issued by refugee leaders, 200 individuals have chosen to remain in Durban.

After spending four months living on the pavement outside the Durban Home Affairs offices, 274 foreign nationals boarded five buses bound for the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp.

The group will stay at the facility while the government negotiates options with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Wivine Bahati, who chose to relocate to Lindela, says the move offers immediate relief regarding safety and shelter after months of uncertainty.

“The cause that resulted us in being here is still there, it’s still going around, and the unrest hasn’t rested yet.

I’m just glad that my people can get to rest and get to rethink better decisions for their life so that they don’t have to blame anyone for not giving them enough time to recuperate, to rethink because it’s been traumatizing being here the past four months.” “It’s better for us to leave, so we can be safe in Lindela.” says Princess Adjei, a refugee.

However, 200 people elected to remain behind, hoping to be reintegrated into local communities.

KwaZulu-Natal Home Affairs Provincial Manager Cyril Mncwabe confirmed that officials negotiated with the group for months before arranging transport.

He added that two individuals were excluded from the transport list after being arrested following clashes with protesters two weeks ago.

“Five buses were made available to come and deal with a number of 282 people that we had on our data base as people who supposed to go as of yesterday.

The final figure was 278 and how we arrived at 278.

There is a mother who’s got a sick child that had been confirmed by the doctor that, that child cannot travel and we then agreed that we will remove the mother from the list and we were left with 280.