Sites housing refugees from xenophobic attacks in Cape Town would soon turn into breeding zones for disease and crime, civil society groups warned on Monday.
The warning came as city mayor Helen Zille called for the army to be deployed as peacekeepers as foreigners returned to the communities from which they had fled.
Since the xenophobic attacks started last week, about 40 relief centres have been opened in the greater Cape Town area, including six special "safety sites" set up by the city administration.
The attacks have displaced some 20 000 people.
Speaking at a media briefing, former Treatment Action Campaign chairman Zachie Achmat said the situation in some of the camps was of serious concern.
He said 58 cases of diarrhoea had already been reported at one site in Nyanga township, where close to 400 foreigners had taken shelter.
Black Sash representative Alroys Paulos said the organisation had received reports of xenophobic attacks in the camps, where people of various nationalities were forced to stay under one roof. In one of the camps, a woman was raped, he said.
Aids and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa representative Paula Akugizibwe said the government should immediately roll out a health service in the camps.
Those with HIV and TB were at high risk and needed urgent attention. Even those who were healthy were in serious danger of contracting contagious diseases because of overcrowding in the camps, Akugizibwe said.
Zille said that the city would support the reintegration of people who wanted to return to their homes.
It would also assist those displaced foreign nationals who wanted to go back to their home countries.
"In the current climate of unrest, the process of reintegrating displaced people into their communities will require a peacekeeping force to be deployed to the most sensitive hot-spots around our city," she said.
"I call on the Western Cape safety and security MEC to approach the Minister of Defence and request the urgent deployment of a peace-keeping force of the SANDF to act as an umbrella for the reintegration process."
Zille said the city was accommodating refugees at six "safety sites" around the metro, as well as in community halls.
Western Cape police spokesperson Superintendent Andre Traut said no xenophobic violence was reported on Monday.
Police were patrolling what he called the "displacement centres", to maintain law and order there.
They were also policing rail and bus stations.
"They (foreigners) are leaving Cape Town on buses and trains for Johannesburg, to take further transport to their countries of origin," he said.
"We keep a tab of their movements to ensure they can exercise their right to leave if they want to."
He said a total of 371 people were arrested throughout the province over the weekend on charges of public violence.
Two foreign nationals died in Cape Town over the weekend, but one death - that of a Somali national - was in a traffic accident at the Dunoon informal settlement, and was not related to the violence.
The other was a 29-year-old Mozambican who was killed in Kuils River when he was hit in the face by a brick. - Sapa
The warning came as city mayor Helen Zille called for the army to be deployed as peacekeepers as foreigners returned to the communities from which they had fled.
Since the xenophobic attacks started last week, about 40 relief centres have been opened in the greater Cape Town area, including six special "safety sites" set up by the city administration.
The attacks have displaced some 20 000 people.
Speaking at a media briefing, former Treatment Action Campaign chairman Zachie Achmat said the situation in some of the camps was of serious concern.
He said 58 cases of diarrhoea had already been reported at one site in Nyanga township, where close to 400 foreigners had taken shelter.
Black Sash representative Alroys Paulos said the organisation had received reports of xenophobic attacks in the camps, where people of various nationalities were forced to stay under one roof. In one of the camps, a woman was raped, he said.
Aids and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa representative Paula Akugizibwe said the government should immediately roll out a health service in the camps.
Those with HIV and TB were at high risk and needed urgent attention. Even those who were healthy were in serious danger of contracting contagious diseases because of overcrowding in the camps, Akugizibwe said.
Zille said that the city would support the reintegration of people who wanted to return to their homes.
It would also assist those displaced foreign nationals who wanted to go back to their home countries.
"In the current climate of unrest, the process of reintegrating displaced people into their communities will require a peacekeeping force to be deployed to the most sensitive hot-spots around our city," she said.
"I call on the Western Cape safety and security MEC to approach the Minister of Defence and request the urgent deployment of a peace-keeping force of the SANDF to act as an umbrella for the reintegration process."
Zille said the city was accommodating refugees at six "safety sites" around the metro, as well as in community halls.
Western Cape police spokesperson Superintendent Andre Traut said no xenophobic violence was reported on Monday.
Police were patrolling what he called the "displacement centres", to maintain law and order there.
They were also policing rail and bus stations.
"They (foreigners) are leaving Cape Town on buses and trains for Johannesburg, to take further transport to their countries of origin," he said.
"We keep a tab of their movements to ensure they can exercise their right to leave if they want to."
He said a total of 371 people were arrested throughout the province over the weekend on charges of public violence.
Two foreign nationals died in Cape Town over the weekend, but one death - that of a Somali national - was in a traffic accident at the Dunoon informal settlement, and was not related to the violence.
The other was a 29-year-old Mozambican who was killed in Kuils River when he was hit in the face by a brick. - Sapa
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