South Africa Scraps Its Asylum Directive After Violent Protests in Durban and Soweto
South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs withdrew a directive on the intake of asylum applications on October 9, a day after anti-immigrant protests turned violent in Durban and Soweto. About two dozen vehicles were set alight across the two cities, and foreign-owned shops were targeted and looted. Police said calm had returned by Friday.
The directive was issued on September 28 to help implement a July 7 Constitutional Court ruling in a case brought by the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, which held that people cannot be shut out of the asylum system solely because of how they entered the country. Home Affairs says the directive was an operational measure issued by the director-general without the knowledge of the minister or other political office-bearers, and that refugee reception offices were overwhelmed within days. Officials and commentators also point to online misinformation that wrongly claimed the ruling granted asylum seekers citizenship or voting rights.
Importantly, withdrawing the directive does not overturn the court’s judgment. The department says it will start a new process to find a workable way of complying, but has not yet said what that will look like.
The reversal solves a security problem and creates a legal one. A court order is still in force, the department that opposed it in court now has to find a lawful way to carry it out, and the people most affected are asylum seekers caught between an overwhelmed system and a hostile street. Misinformation did a lot of the work here, which makes clear, early public explanation of rulings like this as important as the paperwork itself.
Quick facts:
- Directive issued September 28; withdrawn October 9
- Violence on October 8 in Durban and Soweto; roughly two dozen vehicles torched
- The July 7 Constitutional Court ruling remains in force
- Home Affairs says the directive was issued without the minister’s knowledge
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