The City of Cape Town says it will implement its by-laws to remove foreign nationals around the Central Methodist Church on Friday.

The High Court last week granted the local authority an order to remove those living around the Green Market Square precinct.

The foreign nationals began squatting on the pavement in October last year after being removed from a sidewalk in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cape Town.

“The court is clear about what it expects of government and in this regard, has not instructed the government to provide additional accommodation because it would not be legally and technically possible. You create a range of scenarios that would aggravate xenophobic violence quite a bit because you would be saying you are prioritising people who have placed themselves on a sidewalk voluntarily, gave up their homes and now says they are without alternatives,” says JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.

Source: SABC News