Sleeping on the pavement: The heartbreaking scenes unfolding on Che Guevara Road. Image: XOLILE MTEMBU
While children played and darted along the pavement outside the Home Affairs office on Che Guevara Road on Thursday, the difficult reality facing the refugee families living there remained impossible to ignore.
A walkthrough conducted by the Siyafana Sonke Action Campaign highlighted the conditions under which displaced men, women and children are currently living.
The Siyafana Sonke Action Campaign is a coalition of more than 160 civil society organisations established to oppose xenophobia, Afrophobia and anti-migrant violence across South Africa.
Ahead of the visit, campaign representative Yeshelen Govender described the challenges confronting those sheltering outside the Home Affairs office.
“There are women, very young children and men there and some have chronic illnesses for which they are [allegedly] not receiving any support from the state. It is purely civil societies that have been responsible for humanitarian aid.”
The makeshift camp stretches along the pavement beneath a patchwork of tarpaulins tied to fences and poles, offering only limited protection from the winter rain and wind.
Blankets, mattresses and thin foam sponges were spread across the ground, marking out cramped sleeping spaces for families who had spent weeks outdoors.
Plastic bags filled with clothing and personal belongings were stacked beside them, while pots, water containers and donated food supplies lay neatly arranged nearby.
Despite efforts to keep the area orderly, the camp bore the unmistakable signs of prolonged displacement, with people trying to create a semblance of home from whatever they had managed to carry with them.