Foreign Nationals In Limbo After Being Moved From Cape Town Churches

Some foreign nationals removed from outside a church in Cape Town’s CBD have again been moved off an open space in the city.

On Sunday, they were removed from Greenmarket Square after the City of Cape Town enforced an interim court order allowing them to act against foreign nationals that had been living there since October.

They then moved to St Mary’s Catholic Church near Parliament but were quickly ushered away by authorities to a park on McKenzie and Roeland streets.

The foreign nationals spent the night at the park in the CBD.

Earlier on Monday, they were instructed to leave.

As they left, they walked down Constitution Street but were blocked by officers.

They were now on a cordoned off-road. Parents with their young children, holding bags and packets of clothing, folded mattresses and cooking equipment.

One foreign nationals said they did not know where to go: “I don’t want to be here anymore. I am sick and tired. We’ve been suffering since we have been here in South Africa. We want to go.”

Police were surrounding the area.

While these refugees were in limbo, a few hundred were still inside the Methodist Church on Greenmarket Square.

EWN