Home Affairs withdraws asylum directive amid nationwide backlash
Following violent protests, Home Affairs has withdrawn a directive on asylum applications and will reconsider how to implement a Constitutional Court order.
AMID the chaos and destruction linked to the ongoing anti-illegal immigration protests over the influx of asylum-seeker applications, the Department of Home Affairs has issued a directive halting the process at its offices throughout the country.
In a statement issued this morning (October 9), the department said it was withdrawing the directive issued by the office of Director-General Livhuwani Tommy Makhode on September 28.
The order regarding the intake of asylum-seeker applications was issued following the Constitutional Court’s July 7 judgment in the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town matter, which the department said was widely misinterpreted.
The directive was originally issued to all Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) as a purely operational attempt to support the implementation of the Court’s order, without reference to or the knowledge of the Minister of Home Affairs or any other political office-bearer.
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The directive sparked nationwide outrage, culminating in violent protests on Thursday in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, where 14 cars were torched in the Durban CBD and four arrests were made.
Department spokesperson Thulani Mavuso said the attempt to practically implement the judgement immediately led implement the judgment had resulted in serious consequences that could not have been foreseen in the Court order.
“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 said, with the new facts now at hand, the department would embark on a fresh process to “determine the most appropriate operational approach to ensure compliance with the Constitutional Court’s order”.
“The Department reaffirms its respect for the judiciary and the rule of law, as well as its commitment to determine an operationally appropriate and sustainable method to comply with the order,” added Mavuso while denying that the directive was politically motivated.
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