Refugee leader Jean-Pierre Balous happy to be charged

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Cape Town - Refugee leader Jean-Pierre Balous has thrown down the gauntlet to SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) commissioner Chris Nissen after the latter laid criminal charges against him. Balous said he was “happy” that the charges were laid and that “justice can now run its course”. Nissen laid charges of intimidation and defamation of character at Cape Town Central police station on Thursday following a scuffle at the Western Cape High Court earlier this week. Nissen claims that Balous threatened to kill him, a claim the refugee leader denies, vehemently. The scuffle occurred shortly after Balous arrived at court. “I am the first respondent in this matter. Even if I was in prison, they would have brought me to court,” said Balous. “What I did say to Chris is: I am warning you to stay away from our business,” said Balous. The two men came to blows inside courtroom 19, minutes before the matter, which has pitted the City of Cape Town and the refugees against each other, was due to start. The City is seeking a relief order that would enforce the City’s by-laws and which will prevent the refugees from cooking, sleeping and performing their ablutions on the pavement outside the Central Methodist Church near Greenmarket Square. But the group is not budging and has demanded that the City find alternative accommodation for them within the city and country.

The refugee crisis also pitted the Department Home Affairs (DHA) against the City, with the City wanting the refugees documented and the DHA saying that with the status quo, such an operation would not be possible.

Advocate for the City, Con Joubert SC, said the Salt River Hall would be made available for seven days from January 28 for the documentation process to get under way and that minibus taxis would be provided, free of charge, to transport the refugees from Greenmarket Square to the hall.

According to figures quoted in court, there are 300 refugees living inside the church and between 300 and 500 outside on the pavement. While Joubert was adamant that the relief sought by the City was not an eviction notice, he could not tell Acting Judge Daniel Thulare where the refugees would go should the court grant the order.

“I need to know where they are going if I say remove them. I cannot, today, be worse than a judge in 1968. Am I not entitled to know?” said the judge.

Joubert replied: “They must go back to where they came from. There are people who live in this city and have waited for accommodation for longer.”

Advocate Seth Nthai, for the DHA, slammed the City for insisting that the verification process take place in the church, yet in its assessment, the City declared the building not a “safe place”.

“The air is thick with the stench of urine. The atmosphere inside the church is unhealthy,” reads an extract from the City’s heads of argument.

But while many came to hear Acting Judge Thulare, the drama preceding the court proceedings was uppermost in most courtgoers’ minds. Balous accused Nissen of sowing division.

Said Nissen: “We cannot work with a person like this. Anyone who disagrees with him, he doesn’t like.” While Nissen admitted that relations between the SAHRC and the refugee leader have broken down, the commission will continue to monitor the situation. “We are still, on a daily basis, assisting refugees who come to us for help.”

Balous said he stands by his statement that the refugees want to work with the SAHRC, but not Nissen. “This man is misleading the SAHRC and the entire country. This is a conspiracy between Nissen and the City. We are exposing the lives of the refugees and they are embarrassed,” said Balous.

The refugee leader, who now lives in Parow, also moved to clear a “misconception” that he needed SAPS approval if he wanted to enter the CBD, and said he only needed to inform SAPS. Acting judge Thulare will deliver his judgment on February 17.

Weekend Argus