Refugee rights group PASSOP has warned that the South African department of Home Affairs is “closing down space for asylum seekers” by closing refugee reception offices across the country. This campaign has been ongoing for over a year, and there are now only two offices in the whole of South Africa where asylum seekers can register.
Rights groups in that country have been fighting to have the offices reopened, warning that the closures have serious consequences for refugees. PASSOP has now accused the authorities of being in contempt of court rulings, ordering the reopening of the refugee centres.
Langton Miriyoga, PASSOP’s head paralegal officer, explained that the Western Cape High Court last month ruled that the decision to close the Cape Town refugee office to new asylum applicants was unlawful. He explained that, in contempt of this ruling, “Home Affairs has not accepted any new applications.”
“we have been told that they (Home Affairs) is going to appeal which is annoying and disappointing because the court was very clear that Home Affairs had no case,” Miriyoga said.
He explained that PASSOP has been “inundated” by asylum seekers who are “living in fear of deportation,” because they cannot afford to travel to the only open refugee offices in the north of the country. He added that even at those offices, the situation is “desperate” because of overcrowding, corruption and abuse.
“It is difficult to understand why South Africa is acting in this way. They are closing down the space for asylum seekers and making immigration laws draconian,” Miriyoga said.
The PASSOP official continued that, while there are asylum seekers from across the continent seeking protection in South Africa, the numbers of Zimbabweans crossing the border is again on the rise.
“At the moment we see there are mostly Zimbabweans, especially at this juncture with elections in that country. One again there is politically motivated violence on the rise and Zimbabweans are panicking. They are seeking protection in South Africa, but instead they face hostility,” Miriyoga said. – SW Radio Africa
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