PROMISES BROKEN: About a hundred foreign nationals – refugees and asylum seekers – queue up at the reception office in North End in a failed attempt to get legal permits and applications. Picture: EUGENE COETZEE
ABOUT 100 asylum seekers and refugees descended on the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office yesterday in the hope of applying for permits.
But they were turned away by the North End office manager, Sabelo Ngxitho, who told the crowd lining the street he was not given a mandate to open – in violation of a court order.
The Department of Home Affairs had been instructed by the Supreme Court of Appeal to open the Port Elizabeth office on Tuesday.
But the department – which closed its refugee reception offices in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Johannesburg in 2011 – is blaming logistical issues for the delay in opening the office.
Pregnant Somali Fatima Ali, 25, said she was concerned because she was not allowed to be treated at clinics or hospitals without proper documents.
“I am nine months pregnant and due for delivery anytime now. I do not know where to give birth. I was counting on officials to accept our applications.”
Halwa Yusuf, 27, also of Somalia, said she was struggling to register her baby, born in South Africa in August.
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