Image Source: GroundUp
Local – Community activist Phillip Nyalungu believes the refugees in the Western Cape have valid reasons to request relocation to Europe and Canada. He says their call reflects years of frustration, broken promises, and a lack of meaningful action from the state.
Since 2020, hundreds of asylum seekers have been living in temporary camps at Paint City in Bellville and Wingfield in Maitland. Nyalungu, who works closely with these communities, described their living conditions as degrading and unsustainable.
“They are being moved from pillar to post,” he said. “There seems to be no proper, decent housing to be found for these refugees.”
He attributed the ongoing crisis to systemic failures within the Department of Home Affairs, where repeated delays and a lack of legal documentation have left many refugees in limbo.
“What Home Affairs is doing is unlawful, it’s discriminatory,” said Nyalungu. “It’s back like apartheid—now it’s happening to African foreign nationals.”
He said the process of applying for refugee status has become a cycle of frustration. “Once you get there [Home Affairs], it’s just frustration one after another.”
Some individuals have lived in South Africa for decades, and even children born in the country remain undocumented. “They’ve been sent from pillar to post.”
Refugees Face Violence and Systemic Afrophobia
Beyond the administrative failures, Nyalungu said the current situation is placing refugees at direct risk. Without legal protection or stable shelter, they are increasingly vulnerable to crime, exploitation and xenophobia.
“They are exposed to being targeted by petty crime or violent crime… this is like a state afrophobia… a systematic state afrophobia.”
Nyalungu also criticised political leaders for fuelling anti-refugee sentiment. On Africa Day, he said a Patriotic Alliance councillor led a protest at the Wingfield camp, calling for refugees to be removed.
“It’s quite disturbing… we’re just repeating [the past]… it’s like we’re going backwards instead of going forward.”
While officials have stated that reintegration support has been offered, Nyalungu argued these interventions are inadequate. “You offer R2,000 for three months, and then what? You’re on your own.”
He said the state’s response has not only failed to uphold refugees’ rights but has deepened their suffering.
“There are young children there… people who are very sick… the health there is terrible… the government is not doing anything,” he said. “What the minister is saying is just nonsense.”
