With babies, children, elderly and sick people among those camping outside Home Affairs, refugee advocates are calling for emergency shelter, food and blankets.
For 11 weeks, refugee families have been sleeping on the pavement outside Home Affairs on Che Guevara Road in Durban, exposed to winter cold and rain, with babies, children, women, sick and elderly people among those enduring the harsh conditions.
The families told IOL they urgently need food, warm blankets, clothing, water and medicine, with humanitarian organisations and volunteers helping to provide basic necessities as they continue sleeping outdoors.
Deborah Ewing of the Siyafana Sonke Action Campaign, a coalition fighting xenophobia and anti-migrant violence, said the situation was deteriorating while government left civil society to provide basic necessities.
“The situation of the refugee families stranded outside Home Affairs on Che Guevara Road for 11 weeks is worsening by the day. These are all people whose legal status in South Africa has been verified and reverified,” she said.
