SA's hands tied on refugees – Deputy Minister

SA cannot force any country to accept refugees and asylum seekers, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Njabulo Nzuza said as tensions rose among two groups of foreign nationals demanding evacuation from SA, notes News24. ‘SA cannot impose on Canada that there are refugees who want to be moved to Canada,’ said Nzuza as a group of foreign nationals holding a sit-in in Pretoria scaled the walls of the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR. The incident came after a court order on Wednesday that they move from campsites they set up in Brooklyn and Waterkloof near the UNHCR within three days. They now face trespassing charges. In Cape Town, another group of several hundred people was forcibly removed from the Waldorf Arcade in the CBD by police on 30 October, and took refuge at the Central Methodist Church. They have asked to be taken to a country other than their country of origin, saying they are refugees and asylum seekers, and will not be safe if they go back to the country they came from. They have also alleged that they are targets of violence and xenophobia in SA, and that they struggle to get the paperwork required to move on to jobs, or get medical care. Nzuza said Home Affairs had told the UNHCR that the country's asylum seeker and refugee regime is being abused by some people. He does not believe South Africans are xenophobic, saying that attacks on foreign nationals are motivated by crime.

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