Showing posts with label Refugees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Refugees. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The end of Bluewaters

'This Project is....', signboard outside the empty Bluewaters water park where the Bluewaters refugee camp which was recently closed down after failed attempts by the City of Cape Town to starve out its last remaining occupants by cutting off their electricity, access to voluntary food suppliers, schools and hospitals, before visitors arrive in South Africa for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Its residents, victims of the 2008 xenophobic attacks in the townships surrounding Cape Town, had sought refuge in the camps after mob violence aimed at foreigners from other African countries had forced them to abandon their hard earned jobs . The refugees who remained in the camp at the time of its closure the were men, women and children from Somaila, Zimbabwe and Rwanda who had resisted relocation back into South African townships for fear of their lives. In March 2010, 187 people were forced off the camp and forcibly relocated into Delft, one of South Africa's most dangerous townships so that their safe haven could be turned into an RV park for 2010 tourists.