City Health issues warning letter to national Public Works over refugees

24 November 2020

The City of Cape Town has issued a warning letter to the national Department of Public Works (DPW) for contravention of the Environmental Health By-Law. This follows the DPW’s unilateral attempts to withdraw sanitation facilities and evict refugees from the Paint City site in Bellville, unlawfully and without a court order.

The City views the DPW’s actions as a forceful and devious attempt to strong arm the City into providing a function outside of its mandate.

Despite the City’s objections being ignored by Public Works regarding the initial Paint City placement, refugee groupings are currently temporarily sheltered at two sites in Cape Town in terms of the Disaster Management Act COVID-19 regulations – Paint City in Bellville and Wingfield in Goodwood.

The national DPW is now threatening to unilaterally evict all refugees at the Bellville site without a court order by removing the tent providing shelter to these persons. The department has already removed toilets and ablution facilities servicing refugees. A warning letter  has been issued to DPW compelling them to return the ablution facilities. They have failed to acknowledge this letter and have further failed to return the ablution facilities therefore worsening the health condition at the site’ The City will now issue a Compliance Notice instructing the return of sanitation facilities.

The City objects to these unilateral actions by DPW and calls on national government to immediately return these sanitation facilities to the property as the removal is creating a health hazard.

DPW solely managing Paint City Refugee site

The City wishes to confirm that DPW is solely managing the Paint City site, and rejects claims that the City agreed to use this site for sheltering refugees. These claims by DPW are completely untrue:

• The City objected to using Paint City as a site in correspondence to both the SAPS and DPW on 1 and 2 April 2020 respectively, and on several occasions prior.
• During a site visit with the national DPW Minister on 28 March, it was further agreed that all refugees were to be sheltered at Wingfield, a DPW-owned property.
• DPW reneged on this agreement at the eleventh hour, inexplicably setting up a tent and ablution facilities at the Paint City site and instructing SAPS to transport several hundred refugees there during relocation operations from the CBD.
• This unilateral action occurred despite the City having notified the DPW that Paint City was unsuitable due to encroachment on the Bellville Taxi Rank and the lack of servicing to the property.

While the City objected to this site, the DPW attempts to remove sanitation facilities and stage an unlawful eviction do not constitute a solution. The City remains open to negotiating a more appropriate solution on the matter through the available intergovernmental relations mechanisms.

In terms of the Wingfield site, the City’s limited participation includes the ongoing cost it is incurring for marquee tents and amenities, which was premised on the commitment made by the Home Affairs Minister that after the lockdown, refugees would either:

• Voluntarily reintegrate by returning to the communities where they were residing in October 2019 before they took up occupation of the UNHCR offices, or some other accommodation facilities arranged by themselves; or
• DHA would repatriate them to their country of origin
  To date, neither the DPW nor National Treasury have identified any legal mandate whatsoever to justify why the City should cover costs as a result of Home Affairs’ ongoing failure to conclude their legal duties on repatriation.

The law is clear that refugees are managed in terms of the Refugees Act, which falls within the mandate of the Minister of Home Affairs.

The City is willing to assist within its local government mandate, albeit under strict instructions from National Treasury not to incur expenditure outside of mandate.

 
End

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office