Foreign nationals camping outside UN offices in Pretoria ordered to disperse

Hundreds of foreign nationals who have been camping outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee’s offices on Waterkloof road in Brooklyn, Pretoria, have been ordered to disperse. The High Court in Pretoria made the ruling following an urgent interdict by residents in the area.

The group have been camping outside the offices for over a month. They want the agency to find refuge for them outside South Africa. However they do not want to go back to their countries of origin. Judge Natvarlal Ranchod ordered the City of Tshwane and others to ascertain who of the foreign nationals are legally in South Africa.

Alex Mongo is one of those camped on the street, “We said we don’t have a place to go, first of all you have to know that, when they want to take us out from there where are they going to put us because we don’t want to be in South Africa. We have to make it clear and everybody must know about it. We don’t want to be in South Africa, why are you still holding us in South Africa, and we cannot oppose the court order but as refugees we are running from our safety. If the police, metro police come to shoot us, we are ready to die.”