Residents at the Paint City refugee camp in Bellville have not enjoyed their stay since they were moved there last year March during the first lockdown and now they are even more kwaad after the City of Cape Town allowed taxis to park right on their doorstep.
In November, residents woke up to find a klomp taxis on the property while a fence was erected, cutting their kids off from the playground.
Carolyne Shemi, aka Mama Mary, a resident of Paint City, said: “We were not told anything about this. The Law Enforcement just came one morning and put up this fence.
“A few weeks later, the wind blew the fence down and the taxi drivers blamed us and threw stones at people here. While we were staying here, the taxis started shooting at each other and even though nothing like that has happened [before], we are scared to be around them.
“On November 27, the police came in here and took people away from here and some of them never came back.
“All we were told is that they were taken away for verification and they were deported.
“We all have papers, but they expired during lockdown and we could not get new ones because the offices were closed.
“I was born in Kenya and lived here for 15 years. But now I have no country, I am just a refugee.”
Mayco member for Transport Felicity Purchase said that the City was reclaiming the land for its original use.
“The City only reclaimed a portion of the land by way of a temporary fence in order to allow for the holding of minibus-taxis at the site because surrounding roads became very congested."