Blue Waters / Blikkiesdorp Part 1

Even though South Africa’s most serious wave of xenophobic attacks occurred back in 2008, their effects are far from over. Thousands of refugees and other foreigners moved out of their new South African residences due to verbal threats, actual physical displacement, and general community malaise. The Somali community was targeted most acutely. Their willingness to set up shop in the dodgiest of areas, conspicuous religious differentiation, as well as many other unique ethnic characteristics make them most distinguishable to local populations. Many of the thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) residing in the Western Cape settled in Blue Water’s Camp. Blue Water’s Camp used to be a low-budget summer resort just outside Mitchell’s Plain on the outskirts of town, but the City of Cape Town acquired the land in order to assist in the secure habitation of these individuals. At its peak the site housed roughly 3,000 IDPs living in UNHCR-donated orange tents.

As time passed, however, the City grew weary of having so many foreigners living in such a temporary settlement. Their mere existence drew continuous media attention and served to recapitulate South Africa’s negative reputation as a xenophobic society. Naturally this is an undesirable international reputation but especially just prior to the arrival of the global community for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Cape Town thus incorporated a portion of its Residential Development Programme (RDP) budget to construct additional government-funded dwellings in a more permanent temporary settlement: Blikkiesdorp. The Afrikaans term for “Canstown,” Blikkiesdorp is a dusty, treeless section of Delft lacking road names and other basic civil society structures; it soon became home to the bulk of “re-integrated” IDPs residing in the Western Cape.

Those that moved to Blikkiesdorp were given re-integration aid packages from the South African government. Yet others remain at Blue Waters: approximately 350 at present. Some of these individuals do not want to move into Blikkiesdorp because of the conditions there. Many are holding out against the re-integration efforts in hopes of gaining UNHCR interviews for re-settlement in the United States, Canada, Australia, or Europe (not very likely). Their lingering is nonetheless like a tick on the back of the City Council’s neck. As the World Cup draws nearer and nearer and the span of internal displacement longer and longer, the pressure is currently building. Most recently, the City Council is pushing harder than ever to remove these individuals.

It is in this climate that the Cape Town Refugee Centre was called upon to help oversee, administrate, and control the turmoil. I travelled with my supervisor Annel, programme administrator Wandile, and a fellow intern to intake the approximately 50 people who had finally agreed to move to Blikkiesdorp (for the right price from the City Council). Since South Africa’s official national policy prohibits the establishment of refugee camps, Blue Waters internal displacement camp is the closest parallel I have seen in my work here. We pulled onto the property right off the beach and stopped at the camp overseer’s office. Just outside a small swarm of Somalis loitered, evidently the group who had been waiting all day to learn of their possible material gains for relocating once more. Beyond the main office a hoard of circus-like tents occupied an otherwise insignificant parcel of land. A one-man guarded gate blocked the entryway. Annel explained that the current tents are replacements for the UNHCR ones that were there at the beginning of the crisis and pail in comparison.

Inside the main office a short-tempered Coloured man barked orders at the Somalis who continuously tried to inquire about entry times; he treated our arrival with utmost suspicion. Apparently he was the original overseer for Blue Waters when it was a low-budget summer camp and continued to fulfill this role when it became a makeshift displacement camp. He hence seemed to lack the cultural concern and social graces of those already working in the domain of refugee work.

I had been summoned with CTRC to interview those moving to Blikkiesdorp, but in fact we oversaw operations more than anything else. Still, it was an invaluable experience. The South African government established a formula for re-integration assistance that at once became problematic. Single men, single women, and married couples each warranted a set amount of Rand subject to adjustment depending on their amount of children. The camp surveyor informed us that this was immediately a problem because many Somali men had more than one wife and these family units would exploit the system to receive as much money as possible. The husband and one wife would be assessed once, and then the additional wife would come in later claiming she is single in order to receive the appropriate funding bonus.

When I finally entered the settlement area, I was pleasantly surprised. Children played at the previous resort’s playground. Families smiled as we passed by their multi-room tents. Most people leave the area during the day to do business in nearby Mitchell’s Plain and just return to Blue Waters in the evening to sleep. No wonder people refuse to leave. Their livelihoods in Blue Waters are no worse, perhaps even better, than in your average South African township. Uprooting for the third time (at least) takes time, effort, and energy. Yet, continuing to live on the outskirts of society diminishes the likelihood of full integration into a new South African life…the re-acceptance of “home.” Like most things in South Africa, the Blue Waters / Blikkiesdorp issue is much more complicated than it appears at surface level.