The chairperson of the Western Cape standing committee on governance, ANC MPL Patrick McKenzie, has called on the provincial government to provide houses for displaced foreigners whose homes were destroyed during the xenophobic attacks of the past week.
Responding to Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi's budget vote speech at the provincial legislature on Tuesday, McKenzie said this was the least the Western Cape government could do for the foreigners.
In his speech Dyantyi said that of the about 500 respondents in the Du Noon housing audit conducted recently, the department had found that only one foreigner "owned" an RDP house.
Donning a white T-shirt with "foreigner" printed on the front, McKenzie said the housing ministry needed to find out "how many of those people (the now displaced foreigners) have lost their homes and then ensure that they are put high up on our priority list for housing".
"One of the saddest things is that these people came here with nothing and built their own houses. Those houses were smashed this week and burnt down with everything in them.
"We should hang our heads in shame if that's how we treat people."
McKenzie said the provincial government should have seen the signs of an impending crisis a long time ago.
"We wouldn't even allow the people to live outside Customs House."
He explained to the Cape Argus that it was the legal refugees he was referring to in getting priority on the housing list. The people who had obtained refugee status could not return to their countries.
Asked whether he had considered that such action could result in a backlash from homeless locals, McKenzie replied: "Those people (the foreigners) lost their homes through no fault of their own.
"We should bend over backwards and help them."
In his reply to Mackenzie in the legislature, Dyantyi said the xenophobic attacks were a further vindication that "we need this 'Home for All', a vision we are pursuing".
- Cape Argus
Responding to Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi's budget vote speech at the provincial legislature on Tuesday, McKenzie said this was the least the Western Cape government could do for the foreigners.
In his speech Dyantyi said that of the about 500 respondents in the Du Noon housing audit conducted recently, the department had found that only one foreigner "owned" an RDP house.
Donning a white T-shirt with "foreigner" printed on the front, McKenzie said the housing ministry needed to find out "how many of those people (the now displaced foreigners) have lost their homes and then ensure that they are put high up on our priority list for housing".
| 'the department had found that only one foreigner owned an RDP house' |
"We should hang our heads in shame if that's how we treat people."
McKenzie said the provincial government should have seen the signs of an impending crisis a long time ago.
"We wouldn't even allow the people to live outside Customs House."
He explained to the Cape Argus that it was the legal refugees he was referring to in getting priority on the housing list. The people who had obtained refugee status could not return to their countries.
| 'We should hang our heads in shame if that's how we treat people' |
"We should bend over backwards and help them."
In his reply to Mackenzie in the legislature, Dyantyi said the xenophobic attacks were a further vindication that "we need this 'Home for All', a vision we are pursuing".
- Cape Argus
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