Group of Kenyans refuse to be deported from South Africa
Some Kenyans are among a group of East African nationals who have now refused to return to their home countries from South Africa.
The others are from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan. They are demanding to be transported to a third country from where they have been camping at the United Nations refugee agency in Tshwane, South Africa.
South African media reported that the 200 asylum seekers should leave the country by Wednesday, 19 April 2023, according to a court order.
“According to the court order, they should have vacated the area by yesterday, but in the afternoon they were still there going about their day while the police just looked on,” reported Sowetan Live.
In the evening, however, most of them were seen preparing dinner.
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The High Court in Pretoria has ordered that they be evicted and taken to the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp, where they will be held for six months.
According to the media house, Mr Johnny Loweso, 44, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, set up his home before being joined by his two children and wife.
He said the living conditions in Lindela were terrible and the medical care was not good, and that he wanted them to be taken to a country where xenophobia was not an issue.
However, he said that the challenges they were facing could not be taken to Europe or the United States of America.
Some of the group were part of the UNHCR protest in Pretoria in 2019 over xenophobia in SA.
This comes just two months after eleven Ethiopians were arrested in Kayole, Nairobi, while waiting to be smuggled into South Africa.
At the time, the head of the Transnational Organised Crime Unit, George Mutonya, said the new group was in a house waiting to be shipped out when they were tipped off.
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