How did hundreds of refugees end up on Durban’s streets outside Home Affairs?
Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers from the DRC, Burundi, and Rwanda are living on the streets outside a Home Affairs office in Durban, South Africa. The situation follows rising anti-immigrant sentiment and threats that forced many to flee their homes.
Why it matters
This highlights the growing humanitarian and social tension regarding migration policy and the safety of foreign nationals in South Africa.
Ask AI 5 min From displacement and immigration-status checks to failed accommodation talks and violent confrontations, the refugees’ months-long stay outside Home Affairs on Che Guevara Road in Durban has become a flashpoint in the city’s escalating migration tensions.
For months, hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers have been living on the pavement outside the Department of Home Affairs’ Refugee Reception Centre on Che Guevara Road in Durban.
The group is made up largely of people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi and Rwanda.
Their presence outside Home Affairs has become the centre of a growing dispute over immigration, documentation, safety and the government’s responsibility towards refugees and asylum seekers.
But how did the group end up living on the streets outside a government office?
The situation intensified in May amid growing anti-illegal immigration sentiment in South Africa.
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