Refugees from several African nations have been protesting for months, demanding to be resettled in another country. They realized that their demands were not being met so they decided to protest outside the UNHCR offices on St Georges Mall, before they were forcefully removed in a chaotic scene on 30 October 2019.
The new head of the Western Cape Department of Health, Dr Keith Cloete noted that the refugees could make use of health facilities run by the department, but the department would not establish a health service at the church. He said a community-based team from its District Six Community Day Centre has been deployed to assess the health needs of the refugees at the Central Methodist Mission in the city centre.
The City of Cape Town says that they understand and share a growing concern and frustration around the refugee occupation of the Methodist Church in the Central Business District of the city. Cloete who is currently the Chief of Operations for Western Cape Department of Health said: “We would like to normalize the care for vulnerable people in situations like that, as we would do for any other citizen.”
Cloete will officially take over from Dr Beth Engelbrecht who is retiring on April 1 as the Head of Western Cape Department of Health
