Durban refugees left sleeping on streets for a month as Home Affairs fails to act

For more than four weeks, a group of documented refugees has been sleeping on the pavement outside the Department of Home Affairs on Che Guevara Road in Durban. They were chased from their homes by vigilante groups. Now they have no shelter, no toilets, no water.

More than 130 organisations, including trade unions and civil society groups under the National Campaign Against Xenophobia, are calling this a humanitarian crisis. They say the situation reflects a broader failure of government at every level — from the eThekwini Municipality to national authorities.

"These refugees, from various countries, were displaced after being chased out of their homes and communities in different parts of Durban by vigilante groups... This is unacceptable," the campaign said.

At first, authorities questioned whether the refugees were legally documented. But they've since been confirmed as documented refugees. Yet no emergency accommodation has been provided.

Some refugees were allegedly told to return to the communities they fled or be repatriated to their home countries. That leaves them with an impossible choice: go back to places where their lives may still be in danger, or stay on the streets.

Bishop Raphael Bahebwa, a refugee leader, said many were given two options: go to the Lindela Repatriation Centre or reintegrate into the community. But Lindela isn't meant for documented refugees, and authorities claimed the city was safe again.

"Our people have lost everything; they lost their workplaces including salons where they were earning a living. But they were attacked and stabbed, chased away," Bahebwa said.

He said over 450 people have already returned to their communities despite still being afraid. Those who remain have nowhere else to go. For over four weeks, they've had no toilets or water.

The campaign is calling on the eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, and national authorities to provide emergency housing, food, healthcare, sanitation, and psychosocial support immediately. It's also appealed to religious institutions and humanitarian groups for temporary relief.

"No person should be forced to choose between returning to communities where their lives may be in danger or sleeping on the streets without shelter, safety, sanitation, food or adequate protection."

The campaign warned that xenophobia, Afrophobia, and vigilante violence are driving cycles of displacement. Scapegoating migrants for South Africa's economic problems, it said, will only deepen instability.

"The refugees currently sleeping outside Home Affairs aren't criminals. They aren't a threat to society. They're people who've already been displaced by violence and are now being exposed to further suffering through official neglect."

South Africa's Constitution and international law require the state to protect refugees and asylum seekers from harm and forced return to unsafe conditions. The campaign says that duty has been abandoned.

This isn't a new problem. In recent years, xenophobic attacks have forced hundreds of foreign nationals from their homes in Durban and other cities. Many have ended up at police stations or on the streets, waiting for help that rarely comes.

The National Campaign Against Xenophobia includes major unions and civic groups. Its call for action is loud and clear: no one should be left to sleep on the streets because the state has failed to protect them.