The government says it is urgently considering the implications of a recent Constitutional Court judgment affecting asylum seekers and provisions of the Refugees Act.
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration will meet with relevant departments, legal experts and other stakeholders to determine a lawful and practical way forward.
Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has urged South Africans to remain calm and avoid speculation or misinformation.
Government says it remains committed to border security, effective migration management and upholding the rule of law.
Gauteng Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba has turned to a full court to seek clarity on the approach towards matters involving undocumented asylum seekers who are detained and facing deportation.
This after the Constitutional Court’s July Judgment that invalidated parts of the Refugees Act.
Two Judges of the Gauteng High Court reached opposing conclusions on two matters dealing with the same issue.
One ruled that once a detainee expresses an intention to seek asylum, their release from detention must follow immediately.
The second Judge, in a different matter, did not release the applicants but ordered Home Affairs to immediately process their asylum interviews.
As a result, Judge President Ledwaba placed a moratorium on hearing all similar applications in Gauteng until legal certainty is established.
Protests at Durban refugee centre:
Earlier, tensions ran high outside the Department of Home Affairs’ Refugee Reception Centre in Durban.
A group of disgruntled South Africans is protesting, demanding that asylum application processing at the facility be halted. The protest came as hundreds of foreign nationals, mainly from Ethiopia, Somalia, Bangladesh and Pakistan, queued outside the centre to have their asylum applications processed.
The influx followed a Constitutional Court ruling that effectively reopened South Africa’s asylum system to new applicants.
March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma also joined the protest. She called on the Constitutional Court to reconsider and overturn its decision on the matter.
