Preventing the transportation of refugees from Musina to areas such as Johannesburg was likely to ignite xenophobic attacks in the Limpopo town, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday.

"The UNHCR is caught between a rock and a hard place because you need to maintain fluidity in Musina. We can't afford congestion, because as soon as the two alternative shelters we have overflow, then there will be problems with residents. Xenophobic attacks could erupt," said the organisation's co-ordinator Bruno Geddo.

He said it was vital for the Gauteng provincial government to lift a ban that prohibits the Commission from transporting Zimbabwean nationals to Johannesburg.

The town stopped the transportation of Zimbabweans to Johannesburg following a meeting last Friday, saying the UNHCR created a refugee crisis in Johannesburg by transporting refugees into the city without consultation.

The organisation has been providing transport for thousands of Zimbabwean refugees to come to Johannesburg since February this year.

"It isn't right, at all right for [the UNHCR] to bring these people into the city. They should have had the decency to communicate to the city [their plans]," said spokesperson for the provincial department of local government Themba Sepotokele last Friday.

Many of the refugees who have arrived in Johannesburg are congregating around the Central Methodist Church, but as many as over 2 000 of them live on the streets around the church.

This has caused problems with business people in the vicinity of the church, who say the large number of refugees is affecting their business.

"If they had communicated to the city, we would not be having this crisis," said Sepotokele.

The UNHCR denied responsibility for the situation last Friday.

They said Zimbabwean refugees in Musina, who had their papers but not the funds to travel further into South Africa were provided only with transport.

"The [Musina] municipality asked us to facilitate their travel," said UNHCR regional representative for Southern Africa, Sanda Kimbimbi.

"But we have never been telling anyone to go to the Central Methodist Church, or Johannesburg, or Gauteng."

Kimbimbi maintains that the Musina refugees came to Johannesburg in search of jobs, and would have travelled there, perhaps by more dangerous means, regardless of the UNHCR's help.

"We cannot be held responsible for this situation. I'm sorry, we cannot," said Kimbimbi.

Meanwhile, the organisation was consulting with farmers in Musina to take in refugees for the harvesting season.

"Together with the International Organisation for Migration, we are trying to get them to work in farms and also trying to get those stuck in Johannesburg without jobs to get home to alleviate the pressure," said Geddo.

With between 200 and 400 new refugees arriving at the two shelters in Musina daily, Geddo said the organisation needed to get going with the transportation as soon as possible.

"Soon, these shelters will be full and if they are full, we'll be having problems," he said.