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South Africa: Concourt Clarifies Act for Asylum Seekers

Source: All Africa, 09/02/2022

The apex court has reversed amendments to the act that made it difficult for refugees to apply for asylum while making it easy for Home Affairs officials to unjustly detain and deport them.
The Constitutional Court brought much needed clarity to the application of the new amendments to the Refugees Act in relation to asylum applications. The apex court ruled that refugees and asylum seekers can now apply for permits locally, and that they can stay in the country pending the status of their application for asylum.
It is a decision that rescued Desta Abore, an Ethiopian national, from an unlawful detention that lasted for almost a year.
It is uncertain when exactly Abore entered the country. The high court held that he entered on 5 January 2017, while the Constitutional Court preferred mid-December 2019. What is not disputed, however, is that he entered illegally through Zimbabwe. He said he came to South Africa to escape persecution in his home country given his involvement in opposition politics.
Following his arrest, on 7 July 2020, in Eshowe, northern KwaZulu-Natal, Abore was convicted and sentenced by the local magistrate`s court to 50 days imprisonment with an option to pay a fine of R1 500 for entering the country unlawfully. Despite paying the fine, Abore served his prison sentence. The detention, which was supposed to end on 25 August 2020, continued beyond that date.
Because of the endless postponements, and change of legal representation, Abore languished in prison for over a year.
It was only in February 2021 that the Department of Home Affairs applied for a warrant extending Abore`s detention for purposes of deporting him. The magistrate`s court in Eshowe granted the application and he was moved to Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp - where he was detained for 30 days. The department did not deport Abore immediately when he was at Lindela; instead, they approached the magistrate`s court in Krugersdorp for an order to detain him for a further 90 days. The court granted this order
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