The police are fully aware of the backlog in processing at the Home Affairs
in Johannesburg which leads to refugees and prospective immigrants having to
wait months for attention with no facilities provided. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The ACDP is outraged that the police used brutal force to remove what were
unarmed and sleeping men, women and children finding shelter in a church and
presenting no threat of violence. The ACDP is also appalled to hear that no
courtesy was shown to Bishop Paul Verryn of the Methodist Church. He was
manhandled by police who refused to give identification and presented no
search warrant.South Africa looks to the South African Police Service (SAPS) to remove
criminals from society; we do not expect them to callously apply force to
attack weak and vulnerable people who have lost everything in a foreign
country, and look to us to provide temporary refuge.The ACDP calls on the SAPS to make specific interventions to assist rather
than excacerbate the problem and urges Home Affairs once again, to speed up
their processing of refugees and prospective immigrants so they may get on
and contribute to our society until their home governments create conditions
safe for them to return, which then they will undoubtably do.Home Affairs inefficiency and bureaucracy in the handling of refugees
antagonizes relationships between South Africans and neighbouring peoples
which is unnecessary. A strong SADC needs good inter-relationship between
neighbours; both at government level and for the people those governments
are meant to serve. With the economy growing at the rate our government
claims, there is surely room to employ refugees who are willing and able to
contribute to our society.For further information contact:-Cheryllyn Dudley, MP and Whip
ACDP Parliament
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