Blue Waters refugees to be moved

By Ofentse Mokae
01 March 2010

This week officials from the City of Cape Town will start clearing out the Blue Waters Refugee camp near Strandfontein.

This follows after the Western Cape High Court ruled in favour of the city to remove victims of xenophobic violence from the safety site.

The city’s spokesman Pieter Cronje says they will immediately assist with the relocation of 34 people identified as vulnerable by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and they will be taken to the Delft relocation area.

“We will also be offering trauma counseling up to a value of a hundred thousand rands for those people, they will be given an option to make use of that service or otherwise we will consider other form of assistance,” Cronje said.

Cronje says the judgement did indicate that in the process the city tried to make dialogue with the people.

The 34 people have been staying at the camp for nearly two years now.

Residents have until the 31 March to find alternative accommodation.