Home >> Africa >> Republic of South Africa  Email  Print Refugees in South Africa (Part 6): Refugees get security, but plead for their papers Miriam Mannak - 5/24/2005 The Department of Home Affairs yesterday placed toilets on the premises of the refugee reception office on the Foreshore and deployed security personnel to manage the scores of people waiting in line.
This follows a visit to the refugee office last week by Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula - in response to to a series of exposés in the Cape Times - who promised to meet the most immediate needs of asylum seekers, including toilet facilities and queue management.
This would be done "to make your lives easier," she told refugees at the time.
The refugees queue up to apply for or extend their temporary asylum seeker permits. Last week 30 men barged into the refugee office after growing tired of waiting for the permits, which the refugees call "Section 22s".
Officials beat the men with wooden sticks and sjamboks and three refugees were taken to hospital.
"We are very happy with the toilets," said Eric* from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "It is definitely an improvement.
"But we need more than toilets as they don't give us food. We need our papers so we can work and eat. We are tired of waiting and sleeping here.
"We spend the night here because being among the first ones in line improves your chances of getting your Section 22," he said, pointing to a pile of cardboard.
"We use the cardboard as protection from the cold, the wind and the rain when we sleep here. There is no shelter."
Justine* from the DRC and her two children - a three-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy - slept at the refugee office on Sunday night in the hope that this would give them a better chance of getting a "Section 22".
Justine said she was grateful and appreciated the toilets "a lot", but the papers for the family were more important.
"Life without papers is very difficult.
"You can't work, so you don't have money for food or medical care," she said.
Justine said she had waited in line for over two months without result.
"Now I sleep here once in a while, trying to be at the beginning of the queue.
"Yes, with my children.
"It is not nice as it is cold here at night. And there is no shelter against the rain and wind." Miriam Mannak has degrees in Journalism, International Relations, American Studies and International Development Studies. As part of her studies, she's done research on crime in Netherlands, landmines in Cambodia, political, economical and social relations between US and Europ in 2003 versus transatlantic relations during Cold War, and the role of the UN in the genocide in Rwanda. Ms. Mannak currently resides in the Republic of South Africa, and in the past also lived in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) and Holland. She worked for various publications, including De Telegraaf, Gooi - en Eemlander, Sp!ts, The Cape Times, Zuid-Afrika Huis, De Jonge Journalist and Backpackers Galaxy.
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