South Africa scraps its asylum directive after unrest
Nine days after issuing it, Home Affairs withdrew the order to accept asylum applications following riots in Durban and Soweto. The court ruling behind it still stands.
South Africa on Oct. 9 withdrew the directive that required its refugee offices to take asylum applications in person, according to Daily Maverick. The Department of Home Affairs, the ministry that handles migration, had issued it on Sept. 28 to comply with a July ruling by the Constitutional Court.
The reversal followed a week of anti-immigration protests. In Durban, a port city on the east coast, the group March and March shut down the reception center on Oct. 6, where hundreds of people were waiting. Two days later there was unrest in Orlando West, in Soweto, the township of Johannesburg, where ten cars were burned after a clash between protesters and foreign shopkeepers.
In Soweto, police opened cases for malicious damage to property (nine), assault (three) and public violence (one), according to EWN. The same outlet reports 19 arrests in Durban; Daily Maverick does not report any arrests.
The department said the director general issued the order without the minister or other political officials knowing. It added that the offices were overwhelmed within days and that "serious threats to public safety and order" had emerged. Panyaza Lesufi, premier of Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg, called the withdrawal "a major relief."
The directive covered people who crossed outside a designated port of entry, people without a visa and people who missed the five-day deadline to report to one of the country's five offices. According to Daily Maverick, misinformation also played a part, claiming the order gave applicants citizenship or the right to vote. The outlet notes that many of those claims lack evidence. The department said it will report those messages to the Electoral Commission.
The ruling is not overturned. The government says it will prepare another procedure to comply with it, and has not yet given details or a date. Meanwhile, people seeking asylum have no clear way in.
