DURBAN - Government has given refugees camping outside Home Affairs offices in Durban an ultimatum.
It's ordered them back to their communities or to be arrested and sent to the Lindela repatriation centre.
The group of refugees, most with documentation, has been camping on the streets for almost a month now.
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The refugees expressed mixed feelings about the ultimatum, while others said Lindela is not an option.
"Taking us to Lindela will make us undocumented, when you yourself have made us documented. So, we don’t understand, hence we say that Lindela is an uncertain option. If we are going to Lindela, it means all of us are undocumented," documented refugee Wivine Bahati said.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi said government's plans, if they refuse to move, are anything but clear.
" The team will report and we will have to look at what options we have, but we have given them two options...We don't have refugee camps, and we don’t want to have temporary refugee camps. It’s a decision as a country, it’s the law. So, we can’t create things that are unlawful as South Africans," she said.