City threatens to evict ‘undocumented’ foreign nationals from temporary emergency accommodation.
Just off Turffontein Road next to Wembley Stadium in Johannesburg, a rubbish-strewn, gravel path leads to what has become known as Wembley shelter . There are trenches with urine and faeces.
According to Seri, the evictees were placed here when the high court ordered the City to provide temporary emergency accommodation. Five years later they are still at the “shelter” with few prospects. An asylum seeker from Zimbabwe who shares a room with four family members, said, “To think that we once had homes of our own … The conditions we live in are not even fit for animals.”
Samuel Myanda, his wife Lebogang and their two children had their home broken into earlier this year and their possessions stolen. They had registered for an RDP house years ago before the eviction. “We have big dreams. But how can those dreams come true while living in a place like this? We have people urinating and defecating everywhere. The City promised to make our place here worthwhile, but it’s the exact opposite,” he said.Khululiwe Bengu from Seri said, “This has become a common problem around Joburg. There are several shelters where the City has abandoned evictees without services.”