The Department of Home Affairs has withdrawn a directive issued on 28 September concerning the intake of asylum seeker applications and serious threats to public safety and order.
The directive was issued last month, following a legal challenge by the Scalabrini Centre in Cape Town.
This case challenged the constitutionality of several restrictive amendments made to The Refugees Act. Such as:
- asylum seekers could be blocked entirely from the asylum system for minor procedural mistakes, such as entering the country through an unofficial port of entry or failing to obtain a transit visa
- the law reportedly gave immigration officials unguided discretion to determine whether an applicant had “good cause” or “valid reasons” for delay, which often resulted in arbitrary exclusions
The Constitutional Court of South Africa then ordered the Department of Home Affairs to dismantle these barriers and ensure all applications are evaluated on their merits.
“With these new facts now at hand, the Department will embark on a fresh process to determine the most appropriate operational approach to ensure compliance with the Constitutional Court’s order. “
Home Affairs then instructed centres to immediately process all asylum seekers, including those who entered South Africa irregularly.
In its statement, Home Affairs notes that the directive was issues as “purely operational”, to support the implementation of the Court’s order.
However, this was done without the knowledge of, the Minister of Home Affairs or any other political office-bearer.
It maintains that this move was not politcally-motivated.
The fallout: serious threats to public safety and order
The announcement of the Home Affairs directive triggered massive queues at refugee centres.
“This includes, amongst others, the fact that RRO operations were overwhelmed within a matter of days since the directive was issued, Home Affairs officials were placed at risk, and that serious threats to public safety and order had emerged.”
The ordering of the directive also drew on furious backlash from anti-immigrant groups, culminating in yesterday’s violent riots in Durban and Soweto, where buildings were torched and foreign-owned shops were looted. Indivduals were also harmed and others were arrested.
Police now remain on high alert in the affected areas.
