The South African government was ordered on Friday to halt until at least Monday the dismantling of shelters housing thousands victims of a spate of deadly xenophobic attacks earlier this year, according to dpa. The Constitutional Court ordered the government to keep open six shelters in the Johannesburg area that had been due to close Friday until it could hear an application by a refugee support group protesting their closure. The activists are calling on the government to keep the camps open until it has come up with a comprehensive strategy on how to reintegrate the refugees, mostly African migrants. Friday had been the Gauteng government's deadline for the closure of six camps housing 2,500 people. Authorities in Western Cape province, where Cape Town is situated, say they hope to empty over 40 shelters there by September 3. The camps were erected in June to house the victims of a two-week orgy of xenophobic violence in poor communities in May that left at least 62 people dead, hundreds injured and tens of thousands fleeing for their lives. The attackers accuse the migrants variously of taking their jobs, taking public housing and stoking crime. Although some of the migrants have since slipped back into their communities most have been rooted in the camps by fear as hardline youths in some communities vow to "finish off" foreigners who dare return. South Africa is home to millions of illegal migrants from poorer neighbouring countries, such Mozambique and Zimbabwe, who come to Africa's biggest economy in search of work. The migrants provide unwelcome competition for low-paid jobs, in a country where at least one in four is unemployed.
