‘Lindela is not the solution’: Durban asylum seekers refuse relocation
Asylum seekers and refugees camping outside Durban Home Affairs have been given the option of returning to their communities or going to Lindela, but some say neither option is safe.
The relocation of asylum seekers and refugees who've been camping for four months outside the Durban Home Affairs offices on Moore Street is underway.
But not everyone is being taken to the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Gauteng.
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration has given them two options: return to the communities where they had been living or go to Lindela.
Some have boarded buses bound for the repatriation centre, while others have chosen to stay behind.
But they say they fear returning to their communities.
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One of those staying behind is Magiolain Mabako from Congo.
He says they want government to find an alternative as they believe the situation in their communities remains unsafe.
”I don't want to go to Lindela because it depends [on the] conviction [of] everyone. For me…Lindela is not the solution to our problem, because even here there is some place where people can stay for a moment and see the situation calm down and people reintegrate the community, but not the solution to go to Lindela, because Lindela is, the centre for deportation, and Lindela, for me, I'm not guarantee if they are going to be safe”
Mabako says those remaining are now waiting to hear what Home Affairs and other authorities will decide about their future.
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