Married couple who led Greenmarket Square refugee protest facing charges

The married couple who led one of the factions of refugees that held a five-month protest at Greenmarket Square are behind bars and facing criminal charges, the Department of Home Affairs said.

According to department spokesperson Siya Qoza, JP Balous and Aline Bukuru, who led the faction that took over the Methodist church while the other faction camped in the square and on the adjacent streets, “have both been remanded in custody facing several criminal charges”.

Qoza said: “The couple have flatly rejected the option to integrate with local communities, demanding instead relocation to (a) third country, preferably to Canada, by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“This is despite the UNHCR repeatedly informing them that relocation to a third country was out of the question. Both Ms Bukuru and Mr Balous have exhausted their internal remedies and their applications for asylum have been rejected.”

An expert on refugee rights at the department of public law at Stellenbosch University, Callixte Kavuro, said: “An asylum-seeker cannot be deported or expelled from a host country as he or she is protected by the principle of non-refoulment. This dictates that a refugee or an asylum-seeker cannot be returned to a country where his or her physical integrity, freedom or life would be threatened or subject to political persecution.

“However, it should be borne in mind that non-refoulment is not absolute as a refugee or asylum-seeker can be returned because of national security reasons.”

-Cape Argus

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