Al-Qalam 
A group of almost 400 legally documented migrants who are foreign nationals of various African countries with refugee status, have since 18 May, been harassed and chased away from their homes – and the communities that they once resided in – by vigilante South African groups.
Despite attempts to seek shelter at the Durban Central Police station, they have been met with further aggression from the police, who tried to disperse them with teargas and rubber bullets. After having their legal status verified at the Home Affairs Office in Che Guevara Road (at the request of local Municipal authorities), they have refused to return to their homes and communities out of fear for their lives. Since 21 May, they have opted to live on the pavement outside the very same Home Affairs office which confirmed their legal status. They have been relying on the goodwill of a few local civil society groups to provide them with food, blankets, medication, hygiene products and other essentials required for human survival.
The South Africa Palestine Movement (SAPM) and SAPM Youth Committee, which has been part of a civil society coordinating group providing support to these displaced refugees, expresses its utter shock and disappointment at the response from government officials as well as the broader religious leadership of eThekwini. It is at times like this when people become internally displaced due to either natural disasters or political violence that the authorities and faith-based groups are meant to activate disaster management plans or open up their doors to provide shelter and refuge to those who have lost the comfort and security of their homes both in their countries of origin and here in South Africa. Being left to fend for themselves in a foreign country is certainly not supposed to be a South African trait, much less an African one. Yet it is a trend that is increasingly becoming prevalent in local communities.
The fact that people (with some brave and notable exceptions) have generally been reluctant to help this group, who qualify for humanitarian relief, is most distressing and painful. The fact that they have been allowed to enter the country by the authorities, given documents to prove their asylum/refugee status, then harassed by local vigilante groups and finally abandoned in their time of suffering is, needless to say, nothing less than unethical and criminal.
South Africa has experienced several waves of xenophobic and Afrophobic violence for the last almost two decades. The country has not gained anything from such behaviour by the local population. If anything, South Africa loses its standing in the international community every time, as well as any foreign investments that may have created possible jobs for the locals who continuously (and erroneously) claim that foreign nationals are taking their livelihoods. In addition, travel for South Africans seeking opportunities abroad becomes even more difficult as we will not be welcomed by other nations while we eject their citizens from our shores.
Apart from the group in Che Guevara Road, there have been increasing reports of foreign nationals being chased out of several other communities and forced to seek shelter in other open spaces. This is simply adding fuel to an already growing fire which may result in mass violence if not extinguished immediately.
SAPM calls upon the government of South Africa and broader civil society to come together in this time of crisis to find solutions for both the challenges faced by the local citizenry as well as foreign nationals. Leaving vulnerable human beings (especially women and children) to survive and fend for themselves in an increasingly violent environment or even forcing them to leave the country is not going to miraculously produce the jobs or service delivery that locals are seeking.
We call on those whose job it is to minister and tend to the frail, helpless, hungry, homeless, poor and vulnerable to rediscover your Ubuntu, if it has been lost.
We call on the political leadership and law enforcement authorities of the country to carry out your responsibility to protect, help and serve all those who reside within the borders of our country, while following the laws of the nation (as required by the constitution)
And most importantly, we call on South Africans to remember what it means to be free in the land of your birth (albeit with many economic challenges). The foreign nationals who currently huddle together in fear and uncertainty in pockets around the country, unsure of whether they will live to see another day, did not leave their land of birth to seek shelter in another African country, only to wonder if they are actually still in Africa.
SAPM/SAPM Youth Committee
www.southafricapalestinemovement.org
