Statement of Solidarity with Wingfield Refugee Camp residents against Xenophobia
- GRStories
- 4 days ago
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Statement of Solidarity with the Residents of Wingfield Refugee Camp against the Xenophobic Protest on 25 May 2025
The Ntirhisano Community Centre (NCC) strongly condemns the councillor of Ward 56, Chesyln Steenberg for his deliberate, xenophobic targeting of the residents of the Wingfield Refugee Camp. It is deeply disappointing that, over 30 years into our democracy, an elected representative will abuse his office to exploit one of the most vulnerable communities—refugees— in order to deflect from his own failures and to sow division, rather than fostering unity and cooperation.
We are shocked to hear that Ward 56 councillor, Mr Chesyln Steenberg, of the Patriotic Alliance, has called for a blatantly xenophobic protest march against the residents of the Wingfield Refugee Camp calling on the South African government and the City of Cape Town to evict the refugees residing there. This disgraceful protest has been announced to take place on Africa Day, Sunday May 25, at 2PM, on the corner of 18th Ave and Voortrekker Road.
We believe that only through solidarity and unity can poor and marginalized people overcome the systemic issues of inequality, unemployment, and lack of service delivery.
In 2022, NCC supported the refugee community to start a vegetable garden, which has since collapsed due to a lack of funding and the extreme vulnerability of residents. Organizing and sustaining projects in traumatized and hungry communities demands deep consciousness, compassion, and revolutionary discipline.
Many refugee children attend schools in Kensington , and have been supported by NCC volunteers with after-school programs, while others remain out of school. Currently, NCC and Grassroots Resilient Stories are raising funds to support a young refugee woman who hopes to restart her business selling vetkoeks at the Ntirhisano Community Centre in Salt River.
The Constitution of South Africa applies to every human being within its borders—citizens, refugees, undocumented individuals, and those with or without work permits. We are gravely concerned that the Ward 56 councillor is deliberately fostering division between the residents of the Wingfield Refugee Camp and those of the nearby Gate 7 informal settlement.
A Ward Divided by Neglect and Political Opportunism
Ward 56 includes Acacia Park, Factreton, Kensington, Maitland, Wildermere, and Wingfield. In 2011, it had a population of 33,796 across 8,662 households—figures that have grown significantly over the past 14 years.
Wingfield hosts the Refugee Camp, 18th Avenue, and Gate 7 informal settlements. These communities are primarily made up of Congolese, Xhosa, and so-called Coloured residents, respectively. Since 2021, NCC has worked to promote unity among these groups and to combat xenophobia.
Despite facing shared challenges—government neglect, state harassment, and systemic marginalization—residents, especially women, children, the elderly, and the sick, remain resilient.
Shared Struggles, Unequal Treatment
Both Gate 7 and 18th Avenue suffer from a lack of basic services. Residents of Gate 7 live under constant surveillance by heavily armed law enforcement, who regularly demolish their homes. Meanwhile, Wingfield’s refugee residents live in fear of xenophobic attacks.
Just a year ago, a group—reportedly from Kensington—protested outside the camp, demanding that refugees “go back to their country.” Residents report that Councillor Cheslyn Steenberg visited the camp two years ago, demanding they vacate the land because “locals didn’t want them there.”
The 18th Avenue settlement—mostly Coloured—includes residents with longstanding family ties to Kensington, many of whom moved there due to high unemployment, broken government promises, and unaffordable housing.
Instead of addressing these common struggles, the councillor is exploiting them to divide the community. He falsely claims the entire ward opposes refugees, but leaders and residents of Gate 7 and 18th Avenue have not expressed such views. In fact, they are frustrated with the councillor’s failure to deliver services or provide solutions.
Structural Injustice and Engineered Division
In a bitter irony, the refugee camp receives water and chemical toilets, while Gate 7—just meters away—receives nothing. Residents must walk long distances around a fence to fetch water. Despite protests, the city has refused to provide Gate 7 with basic services, and even instructed refugees not to share their water.
Community leaders in Gate 7 have expressed anger with Councillor Steenberg, who has not helped solve their problems and instead deepens division within and between communities.
Refugees Are Not the Problem—The System Is
The Department of Home Affairs continues to violate the rights and dignity of refugees and as seekers through slow, discriminatory documentation processes—particularly for poor Black immigrants.
The councillor’s actions are a smokescreen to obscure his dismal record on service delivery. By stoking Afrophobia and xenophobia, he directly undermines the South African Constitution and the country’s democratic principles.
The truth is: refugees are not the cause of poor service delivery— systematic government failure, neglect, and deprioritisation of the marginalised is.
Cape Town’s legacy of spatial apartheid still shapes access to services. When poor Black residents become the majority in previously white areas, services often decline. Meanwhile, wealthier suburbs remain well-served.
We Must Reject Division and Reclaim Solidarity
Ward 56 exemplifies this injustice. Once known as the “Boerewors Curtain,” it is now a diverse working-class community. But the councillor’s rhetoric is pulling the community backward — resurrecting apartheid-era racial divisions and hatred. This divisive approach reflects the priorities of dominant political parties in Cape Town, such as the DA and PA, who benefit from racism, conflict, and social division, rather than promoting dignity, justice, and unity for all.
Our communities stand together, aware that if one falls another may be next.
Contact:
Faraja (Wingfield): 068 514 4945
Nobuhle (Gate 7): 068 299 3212
Nomaphelo (Gate 7): 063 022 2417
Illano (18th Avenue): 062 493 8638
Endorsements:
African Legal Students Association
Justice Chapter
We are currently running a Community Fundraising campaign for Fatuma, a resident of the Refugee Camp who operates a small vetkoek business from N.C.C to care for her children's terminally ill father. Find the details to support Fatuma below.
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