Durban migrants set to move to Lindela repatriation centre

More than 300 migrants who have been staying outside the Home Affairs refugee reception office in Durban are expected to be moved to the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Gauteng from Monday.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli said officials were completing the verification of the remaining families before the relocation could begin. He said the process could start on Monday or Tuesday once the checks were finished.

The group accepted the government's offer to move to Lindela after spending about three months on the pavement in Che Guevara Road. They had been displaced from their homes before anti-illegal immigration demonstrations at the end of June.

Ntuli visited the site with Home Affairs officials on Friday. He said five families still required verification at the time of the visit and officials expected to complete that work during the afternoon.

The planned transfer follows weeks of tension around the camp and repeated calls for the provincial and national authorities to resolve the situation. Demonstrations have taken place near the Home Affairs office as officials negotiated with the group.

The relocation date remains dependent on the verification process. The government had not provided a detailed public timetable for the movement of individual families when this report was prepared.

Lindela is a state repatriation facility. The migrants' legal status and individual cases will be handled through Home Affairs processes after the transfer.

Officials have not announced how long the group will remain at the centre. The immediate plan is to clear the Durban pavement site and move the affected families to a facility where their cases can be processed.