Legal Articles and Guides

The University of Cape Town’s Refugee Rights Unit has called on the Department of Home Affairs to re-open its refugee reception offices for first-time asylum applications. The unit appeared before the National Assembly’s Home Affairs Committee yesterday when it made a submission on the proposed amendments to the Immigration Bill.

A family of three has been stateless for a year as a result of the Home Affairs Department not finalising the father’s SA citizenship. According to a TimesLIVE report, the father could not visit India when his mother got ill last year, nor when she died in March this year because the permanent resident ID he has does not allow him to apply for a passport.

The Western Cape High Court has set aside a decision by the Department of Home Affairs to refuse a stateless family's application for citizenship. A TimesLIVE report says the Mulowayi family, of Kensington‚ Johannesburg‚ finally found relief after a protracted battle with the department which had refused their application for citizenship on what has now been determined to be wrongful grounds.

Eastern Cape High Court (Port Elizabeth) Judge Glenn Goosen has ordered two senior government officials to fix a computer glitch that is preventing the placement of two orphans – who, for 16 months, have been without the required paperwork to stay in SA – in foster care.

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba says his department will reopen the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office as soon as the Public Works Department (DPW) has finalised the allocation of suitable office accommodation, says a Cape Argus report.

A group of asylum seekers will argue in the Constitutional Court today that all foreigners, including asylum seekers and refugees, in SA are entitled to apply for visas. A Business Day report notes they are approaching the court for leave to appeal against a decision by the SCA in September 2017 that overturned a High Court judgment, which declared that a 2015 immigration directive by the Department of Home Affairs was invalid and inconsistent with the Constitution.

Briton James Tomlinson, a permanent resident in SA, and his wife, Sarah Nandutu, a Ugandan citizen, have won – and lost – in their Western Cape High Court Home battle with Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba. While their son, Joshua, will finally have the birth certificate they needed, they failed to convince the court to amend immigration regulations that have prevented them from living as a family.

A Constitutional Court judgment, which provides protection to asylum seekers whose applications for refugee status were under review, has been welcomed by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), says TimesLIVE. Twenty-nine asylum seekers, represented by the LRC, challenged the refusal of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office to renew their Section 22 asylum seeker permits pending the outcome of individual High Court reviews of each of their rejected applications.

The Department of Home Affairs is facing more legal action to re-open the Cape Town refugee reception office to alleviate the plight of thousands of newcomer asylum seekers, says a Mail & Guardian Online report. For the past six years, Cape-based asylum seekers have travelled at least twice a year to Refugee Reception Offices in Pretoria, Durban and Musina to receive proper documentation, putting their jobs and monetary resources at risk.

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has initiated a process to revoke the permanent residency of Ajay Gupta as the net closes on the controversial Gupta brothers, says a Sunday Times report. It says Gigaba has instructed his DG, Mkuseli Apleni, to investigate how Ajay obtained residency and seek legal advice about withdrawing it.

Recently re-appointed Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba claimed yesterday Atul Gupta was not a South African citizen – but TimesLIVE says it has proof that Atul is in fact a citizen. Contained in thousands of #GuptaLeaks e-mails is a copy of Atul’s South African passport.

The Public Protector has ordered the Home Affairs Minister to review the 10-year period to apply for naturalisation and ensure it aligns with the five-year period stipulated in the Citizenship Act. The Public Protector received complaints from 18 individuals about the time it took for the department to finalise their applications for naturalisation.

The DA says it would go to court to block any attempt by the government to grant asylum to deposed Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace, according to a report in The Citizen. James Selfe, chair of the DA’s federal executive, said the party had written to President Jacob Zuma and his Foreign Minister to warn that taking in Mugabe would be ‘in contravention of the Refugees Act’.

It has been more than two years since the SCA ordered the Department of Home Affairs to reopen the Port Elizabeth refugee reception office. But this has not happened, a report in The Times says. In 2011 the department closed its refugee reception offices in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg. This resulted in three cases challenging the closure.

The SCA has ruled that asylum seekers may no longer apply for any type of visa while they are in SA and must do so before entering. A Cape Times report notes the judgment comes after Home Affairs Minister and department DG appealed a previous High Court ruling that asylum seekers were entitled to apply for visitors and work visas while in the country.