Several foreign nationals have spent another night sleeping outside, this time at the refugee reception centre on Moore Road in Durban.
This is despite Home Affairs Department confirming that the overwhelming majority are documented. The group was transported from the Diakonia Centre on Thursday for a verification process.
Two foreigners were found to be undocumented while 457 were verified.
However, many refugees and asylum seekers say they are still too afraid of returning to their communities.
These are among those that slept outside the refugee centre.
“My place I was staying in Mjondolo (shack) but the community there chased me away, they didn’t want me there. They said I must leave, if I stayed there, they will kill me. That is why I ran away.”
“Why I cannot go back to the community, actually I have nowhere to go, that’s why I’m here. If I had a place to go to I wouldn’t be here. Yesterday after our papers were verified, we were taken back to the centre (Diakona) only to find that the gate was closed and police pushed us back to the bus and brought us back here with no explanation.”
