Gov�t Ordered To Relocate Refugees
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday August 7, 2017 17:15
The CoA ordered that rejected asylum seekers should be released not later than August 11.
“The order of the court below dated 14th of July, 2017 is expanded to the extent that the applicant shall comply with this in full by no later than 5pm on Friday 11th August, 2017, by which time all the respondents including their registered dependants shall have been conveyed to Dukwi refugee camp at Government expense, and shall have been accorded temporary shelter and basic necessities there,” the order says.
The CoA president said the Registrar’s representative shall summon the parties for the purpose of settling the record in the appeal as soon as prati cable. The court gave the appellant leave, if so advised to consolidate the present appeal with the outstanding appeal in Marie Irage and others.
This came after the High Court ordered the state to relocate 164 asylum seekers and their dependants from the Francistown Centre for Illegal Immigrants (FCII) to the Dukwi Refugee Camp or pay a high price.
The asylum seekers, who are inclusive of rejected and awaiting asylum seekers, are currently incarcerated at the FCII and have been in detention since 2015.
The High Court had previously ruled that their perpetual detention was unlawful and they should be released from custody with immediate effect.
However, government dragged its feet relocating the asylum seekers to Dukwi and currently they have been removed from the cells and are staying in an open space within the Centre.
The asylum seekers are not provided with food by the State, but instead depend on food donated by volunteers for survival. Justice Solomon said the asylum seekers should be moved to Dukwi Refugee Camp by July 21.
Solomon had added that should the state fail to abide by the court order, it will pay the costs of the urgent application that was launched by the respondents’ attorney Morgan Moseki on a punitive scale.