- Protesters at Home Affairs’ Durban refugee office accused police of putting migrants’ rights ahead of South Africans’ while hundreds queued to apply.
- In Gqeberha, queues at the refugee reception office began at dawn on Wednesday, as Home Affairs’ new directive takes effect.
A group of South Africans gathered outside the Department of Home Affairs’ Refugee Reception Centre on Che Guevara Road in Durban on Wednesday demanding that the centre stop operating.
Hundreds of foreign nationals are queuing outside to apply for asylum.
Home Affairs has told refugee reception offices to accept applications from anyone who reports in person and says they want to apply.
The protesters accused the police officers gathered outside the centre of putting the rights of migrants ahead of the rights of South Africans.
The department reportedly issued that instruction on 28 September, following a Constitutional Court ruling on 7 July. It covers people who entered the country illegally or applied late. Being allowed to apply does not mean being granted asylum, because each claim must still be assessed.
The Durban centre has been a flashpoint for months. IOL and the African News Agency reported on 11 September that hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda, had been living on the pavement outside of the centre.
According to media reports, members of the anti-illegal immigration group March and March shut down the centre on Tuesday.
In Gqeberha, long queues began forming outside the refugee reception office at about 4am on Wednesday. GroundUp reported in September that refugee reception offices had been effectively closed to new applicants since the Covid pandemic. It said about 400 asylum seekers had protested outside the Gqeberha office, demanding that offices reopen.
