afrol News, 30 May - Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has been keen to demonstrate action by city authorities to confront the xenophobic violence threatening to tarnish the city's reputation. Ms Zille has achieved UN assistance, aid from the SA army, popular engagement to assist victims, and is seeking a "peace-keeping force" to be deployed in the city. She further calls for the declaration of a disaster status in parts of Cape Town.

Mayor Zille spent most of her budget speech to address the precarious situation in Cape Town, South Africa's mot popular tourist destination. The violence had caused immediate reallocations of funds in the municipal budget. "We now have around 20,000 displaced people in Cape Town, most of whom are staying in six safe areas in different parts of the metro region," Ms Zille informed councillors.

In response, "we have had to further extend our capacity to contain and manage the humanitarian crisis that has developed in the wake of xenophobic violence," Ms Zille said. Cape Town was to spend own funds on "opening further resorts" to provide safe havens for immigrants. But also the Ministry of Defence had opened several of its installations in Cape Town for terrified foreigners.

Following a request by the municipality, the UN's refugee agency also had sent one officer to assist in the organisation of a response to the violence. Ms Zille however has urged "much more" action from the UN, asking it to bring its "vast resources and expertise in the field of displaced people and refugees to assist us. We call on the national government to invite the United Nations into our country to help us deal with this crisis," she said. The mayor reacted to remarks by the visiting UN official saying that the UN was willing to help but had not been asked to do so.

Municipal authorities demonstrated they would not be ashamed to call for external help and for drastic action. "We have also appealed to the Provincial Safety and Security Ministry to request a SANDF peace-keeping force to facilitate the peaceful re-integration of displaced people that wish to return to their homes in Cape Town." The Minister had however told the Cape Town mayor that without a direct request from the relevant authorities, he could not take this step.

Ms Zille has also asked authorities in Western Cape province to consider declaring parts of the province a disaster area, which would open up for stronger measures to be taken in response of the crisis. Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool presented the request at a cabinet meeting yesterday, and a decision was reached to ask national authorities to approve of the step.

"Such a disaster declaration will allow for adequate flow of resources to assist all Cape citizens to better manage the humanitarian relief efforts," a statement released by Premier Rasool's office said. National authorities in Pretoria yet have to respond to this request.

Contrasting the Cape Town municipality, similar budget speeches for the Western Cape Province, held the same day, avoided to mention the violence in the provincial capital. Provincial Minister of Finance and Tourism Lynne Brown only referred to running programmes of tourism support, but did not promise additional funds to address the crisis in Cape Town, neither to assist victims nor to help the terrified tourism industry.

Ms Zille criticised provincial authorities for their failure to act firmly on the crisis thus far. "We in the City would warmly welcome the assistance of the Province in making additional sites available" for displaced foreigner," she noted.

Meanwhile, ordinary citizens and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Cape Town are strongly engaged in tackling the crisis and demonstrating their solidarity with the victims. "For every person who has attacked a foreigner, there have been scores who have supported the relief effort," Ms Zille thanked her citizens. Citizens have provided manpower, funds and second hand items, while NGOs have organised much of the assistance work.

Most displaced foreigners so far have been placed in very provisional camps, some of them on the beach, where sanitary conditions could trigger the outbreak of diseases. The camps, set up by Cape Town municipal authorities and co-run by NGOs, have been criticised by the media and Western Cape authorities as "wrong". They should be closed because they removed displaced people from work and schools, exacerbated potential health problems and made reintegration more difficult, provincial authorities held.

Ms Zille, asking for more help from the UN and the army, defended this temporary solution. "It is also essential to make another thing clear about our safe sites: No-one is forced to go to them, or to remain there," she emphasised. "Yet thousands of people are coming to them as a base from which they can exercise further options. From there they can decide whether to choose reintegration into their communities, or return to their countries of origin," she added.

In other developments, national authorities have started setting up special courts up to speed the prosecution of those arrested for acts of violence perpetrated against foreigners, according to government spokesperson Themba Maseko. Central authorities further are calling on all South African citizens to "expose and report" those who are instigating violence.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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