The move forms part of the government's broader review of migration policies and legislation.
FILE| Asylum seekers queue outside the Customs House building on May 31, 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Nardus Engelbrecht)
The Department of Home Affairs has gazetted proposed changes affecting how asylum seekers enter South Africa.
The proposals come as the department seeks to introduce a more manageable system for processing asylum seeker applications after its earlier attempt this month failed.
In July, the Constitutional Court ruled that refugees and asylum seekers must be given the opportunity to access processing centres, regardless of whether they entered South Africa illegally. The case between the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town and the Minister of Home Affairs concerned the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Refugees Act relating to the asylum application process.
The Constitutional Court confirmed the Western Cape High Court’s declaration that those provisions are unconstitutional and invalid.
On 28 September, Home Affairs issued the directive regarding the intake of asylum seeker applications. It sparked protests across the country, with South Africans voicing their frustration. This after foreigners flooded Home Affairs offices across the country in an attempt to submit their asylum seeker applications.
The department withdrew the directive on 9 October.
Asylum seekers and refugees
On Friday, the department gazetted a proposal to disestablish the Tshwane refugee reception office.
“Section 8(1) of the Refugees Act, 1998 (Act No. 130 of 1998) (the ‘Act’) empowers the Director-General [of the Department of Home Affairs (‘DHA’)] to, by notice in the Gazette, establish as many Refugee Reception Offices in the Republic as he or she regards as necessary for the purposes of the Act and to also, by Notice in the Gazette, disestablish any Refugee Reception Office if considered necessary for the proper administration of the Act,” reads the notice.
The department has also proposed establishing the Beitbridge Refugee Reception Office.
Home Affairs also issued a notice requiring asylum seekers to apply in person to the Beitbridge Refugee Reception Office.
This affects any person who entered the country through the following ports of entry:
- Beitbridge
- Derdepoort
- Giriyondo
- Groblersbrug
- Kopfontein
- Pafuri
- Platjan
- Pontdrift
- Ramatlabama
- Skilpadshek
- Stockpoort
- Swartkopfontein
The notice also affects any asylum seeker who cannot provide proof of entry into the country through a port of entry other than those listed and whose entry through such other port cannot be verified on the department’s systems, including any new asylum seeker scheduled through the online solution who falls within this category.
Home Affairs invites public comments from interested persons or institutions on the gazette on or before 30 November 2026.
IMC on migration
The gazette aligns with comments from the chair of the inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on migration, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi.
Earlier this month, the IMC reiterated its plan to move Refugee Reception Offices from inland areas towards South Africa’s borders. The phased relocation is expected to start in December.
The committee said this would allow asylum applications to be processed closer to points of entry. This way, people whose applications are rejected can be turned back at ports of entry, while those whose applications are approved can proceed into the Republic.
The move forms part of the government’s broader review of migration policies and legislation.
