The Department of Home Affairs has completed the process of verifying the status of the foreign nationals who were protesting outside the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pretoria.

 

The foreign nationals who were temporarily accommodated at the Lindela Repatriation Centre were found to have legal status to be in the country. Some are documented refugees while others are documented asylum seekers.

 

The Department is encouraging and assisting these foreign nationals to return to their places of residence in South Africa.

 

The foreign nationals who have left Lindela Repatriation Centre have done so out of their own volition.

 

The Department continues to encourage foreign nationals who are in the country legally to return to their places of residence.