NEWS
that its student profile had
DATA DRIVE: Nine-year-old Felisite Kimanuka of Burundi has her photograph taken for United Nations official records yesterday. She was among about 300
refugees escorted by officials working for the UN refugee agency from their Blue Waters camp to a community hall in Samora Machel, where their personal
information was collated.
Foreign nationals in about-turn on UN survey
FRANCIS HWESHE
Staff reporter
AFTER initial resistance, all the
foreign nationals at the Blue Waters
camp near Strandfontein have agreed
to participate in a protection assess-
ment programme by the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
On Tuesday morning, the agency
sent buses to the camp in the hope of
ferrying residents to a community
hall in Samora Machel, Philippi, for
one-on-one interviews.
But they were met with scepticism
and only 45 of the 300 residents agreed
to board the buses. The others refused,
citing concern for their safety in the
townships.
But the UN officials were not dis-
couraged and yesterday returned to
Communities asked to help nab copper thieves
STAFF REPORTER
THE CITY’s Copperheads unit has
vowed to crack down on copper thieves
by strengthening their relationships
with communities to ensure crimes
are reported promptly.
Among their recent successes are
the arrest of a 67-year-old man with
23m of copper cable following a tip-off;
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the camp, and following discussions,
those who had initially declined to
participate agreed to co-operate.
During the afternoon, the officials
could be seen interviewing the camp’s
residents at the Samora Machel hall.
Police maintained a presence at the
hall to ensure the safety of the foreign
nationals.
On Tuesday, the UN agency said it
had not been possible to conduct the
interviews at the Blue Waters camp
because, according to the government,
the site had officially been closed.
The new programme, which aims
to assess about 5 000 foreign nationals
across the city by the end of the
month, is intended, among other
things, to update the agency’s
database, confirm its beneficiaries
and identify those refugees and
the arrest of three men who were dig-
ging up cabling in the Edith Stephens
Wetland Park along Vanguard Drive,
also after a tip-off; and the arrest of a
man at a scrapyard in Brackenfell for
attempting to sell a 60m section of
street lighting cable marked “City of
Cape Town”.
According to Rudolf Wiltshire,
chief for specialised services, copper
Gordons Bay
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tively,” Masitha said.
changed significantly over the
oblems, the past decade. While some white
SRC would like to hear from students felt that their space
them, she said. “I have said was being encroached on, black
that we must go out to these students felt that they were
students if they don’t want to seen as guests “in a space they
come to us,” she said. feel they legitimately occupy”.
Moses Masitha,from the “I venture to say that the
University of the Free State day the black student is
(UFS), said some of those in the granted ownership of the UFS,
university community ignored and not merely treated as a
with “reasonable ease” the fact guest, he will contribute posi-
PICTURE: HENK KRUGER
asylum-seekers with special needs. As long we are in the hands of the
Yesterday one of the leaders at the UN,” one of the Blue Waters residents
camp, Dennis Romazani, explained said as he waited to be interviewed.
their initial decision to remain at Monique Ekoko, senior regional
Blue Waters. protection officer for the UNHCR,
“We didn’t refuse (to go to the inter- conceded that the exercise had not
views). We had received wrong infor- been communicated very well to the
mation, people panicked and thought
they were being forcibly moved to the
residents.
“It was a matter of explaining the
townships,” he said. intentions,” she said.
Romazani said the residents ini- Ekoko said that about six families
tially had been made to believe that from the Blue Waters community,
they would have to pay for their own with others at the Youngsfield base in
transport and had not been sure of Wynberg, were due to be interviewed
their destination. today.
But most had changed their minds She said a temporary UNHCR
after a report-back by the small group office, which will allow for the assess-
that had gone to Samora Machel, ment of foreign nationals living out-
because these people had assured
them it was a safe exercise.
side the camp, would be opened in
Bellville this week.
“We were scared, but now it’s fine. francis.hweshe@inl.co.za
Irish fair loses its goat
DUBLIN: The annual crowning of a
cable thieves are “constantly” adopt- goat as king of Ireland at one of the
ing new approaches to stay ahead of country’s oldest fairs is in doubt after
the law. organisers said the heir to the throne
He appealed to residents of Khaye- may be stopped from travelling to the
litsha, Atlantis, Melkbosstrand and festival. Traditionally a male goat is
Mamre, in particular, to be vigilant caught in the mountains of Kerry and
and report “suspicious activities”, paraded through Killorglin where he
because thefts affected communities. reigns for the three days of Puck Fair,
● Report offences to the Copper- a centuries-old festival of drinking,
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THURSDAY JULY 23 2009
by Stellenbosch University’s
Concourt rejects plea on marriages
RICHIE DUCHON
Staff Reporter
AN APPEAL to the Constitu-
tional Court to force the presi-
dent, Parliament and others in
government to take action
towards legalising Muslim mar-
riages through a special law has
been dismissed.
In a unanimous decision yes-
terday, the Constitutional Court
ruled that it did not have jurisdic-
tion to consider an appeal by the
Women’s Legal Centre Trust and
said the High Court was the
proper place to file the motion.
Lawyers for the trust had
argued that the Concourt was the
right place in which to appeal. In
not passing a Muslim marriages
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13
committee appointed by for-
He also said academic pro- Department of Psychology, the
grammes needed to start speak- Division of Student Affairs and
ing to prevalent social needs. the Office for Employment
“Once we all can conceive a Equity and the Promotion of
space of shared ideals and com- Diversity.
mon humanness, my univer- It was attended by staff and
sity will go back to focusing on students from several universi-
its core business – that of ties and was organised in
teaching and learning in an response to a recently released
environment conducive for all report on transformation at
who inhabit it.” higher education institutions.
The symposium was hosted The report, compiled by a
bill, the president and Parliament
were in violation of the Bill of
Rights, they said.
They cited a section of the
constitution that says “only” the
Constitutional Court can decide
when the other branches of gov-
ernment had failed to fulfil a con-
stitutional obligation.
But Justice Edwin Cameron,
who wrote the judgment, said
other parties, including minis-
ters and the Law Reform Com-
mission, were necessarily
involved in passing a Muslim
marriages bill.
“The obligations invoked (by
the trust’s lawyers) must … focus
on the president and Parliament
alone. That is not the case here,”
he wrote.
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Red
mer education minister Naledi
Pandor, indicated that discrim-
ination, in particular with
regard to racism and sexism,
was pervasive at higher educa-
tion institutions.
Following the release of the
report, Minister of Higher
Education and Training Blade
Nzimande asked university
councils to respond.
ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za
The court declined to rule on
whether Parliament, the presi-
dent or cabinet members might
be obligated by the Bill of Rights
to make Muslim marriages legal.
Trust director Jennifer
Williams said the ruling would
delay matters but was not a set-
back for the organisation’s
agenda.
Had it been a favourable rul-
ing it would have meant “our
matter would have been before
(the Constitutional Court) sooner
and we would have had a remedy
sooner”.
Justice Department spokes-
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