Fatima Chohan, the deputy Minister, has reported a marked improvement in the adjudication of new applications in the Durban, Musina and Cape Town refugee centres.
“Except for offices in Pretoria, I am pleased to report that since September 2011, the turnaround time and quality have improved. Status determinations are now made within three months,” she said.
South Africa has the largest number of individual asylum seekers in the world, with 180 000 people, most of them Zimbabweans, having applied in 2010, overwhelming the system and opening it to further abuse. Corruption is rife.