- The Director-General withdrew the 28 September directive that told refugee offices to accept every asylum applicant who reported in person.
- Home Affairs says it was operational, not political, and led to overwhelmed offices, officials at risk and threats to public safety.
The Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs has withdrawn the directive that told Refugee Reception Offices (RRO) to accept every asylum seeker who reports in person, the department said on Friday.
The directive was issued on 28 September, after the Constitutional Court’s judgment of 7 July in the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town case. The court ordered every refugee reception office to receive anyone who reports in person and says they want to apply for asylum, including people who entered the country illegally or applied late.
Home Affairs said the directive was a purely operational attempt to carry out the court’s order.
Home Affairs Spokesperson, Thulani Mavuso said the Director-General’s office issued the directive without the knowledge of Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber or any other political office-bearer.
“Claims that it was a politically-motivated decision are therefore categorically untrue, as the directive emanated from a Constitutional Court case that the Department had opposed,” Mavuso said in a statement on Friday.
He said that trying to apply the judgment immediately led to serious consequences the court order could not have foreseen.
“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,” he added.
Tensions flared outside Home Affairs refugee offices this week as local anti-immigration groups block access to protest a landmark Constitutional Court order. Protesters argued that millions of South Africans are still waiting for their own IDs, demanding that government should help its own citizens first instead of focusing on foreign nationals.
In Durban, protesters confronted asylum seekers outside the refugee reception centre for the third day running, and that tyres and debris were allegedly set alight near the office. In Soweto, foreign owned businesses were vandalised and torched. Meanwhile in Gqeberha, police used stun grenades to disperse protesters outside the refugee office in Gqeberha on Thursday.
With these new facts, the department said, it will start a fresh process to decide the most appropriate way to comply with the court order. It said it respects the courts and the rule of law, and is committed to finding an operationally appropriate and sustainable method of compliance.
The Constitutional Court’s order still stands, and the department says it will comply with it. The statement does not say what will happen at the offices in the meantime, or to people who have already applied or joined the queues.
On Thursday, Cabinet spokesperson Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said at a briefing of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration that the department would review its instructions to refugee offices to prevent confusion. She said government was seeking legal advice.
