Tighter work permit legislation on the cards for asylum seekers

Source: Business Day, 20/06/2016

Pericles Anetos
Tighter work permit legislation on the cards for asylum seekers
IN HER small office in Betrams, Sister Kadia Prigol, as director of
the Bienvenu Shelter for women and children, is at the forefront of
the bureaucratic battle asylum seekers face.


The shelter was visited by Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba on
Monday to mark World Refugee Day. It was started in 1998 and hosts 19
women and 19 children.


"I think corruption is first of all [number] one, not clear
information especially when they (asylum seekers) get there, either
for new arrivals and the same for those who need to renew their
documents," said Prigol.


On one occasion, a woman at the shelter had to go to Home Affairs 15
times to renew her documents, she said. There were also difficulties
combining the files of children with mothers who had married.


Sometimes officials wrote the date of the next appointment on
people`s hands, or files were lost.


Gigaba said this was changing. "The bureaucracy is being addressed in
the department. Even as we are preparing for a new policy framework,
we have already begun addressing the bureaucratic glitches people face
and those include the business processes that we are introducing at
our offices," he said.


Gigaba said it was important for asylum seekers not to be seen solely
as numbers in a system. "We need to understand who they are … the lady
who was talking about her six children, three of which she does not
know where they are, and the pain she lives with every day wondering
if they are still alive."


At the shelter, a woman, who did not want to be named, said she fled
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for SA this year and had no
idea where her family was and whether they were safe.


"The mothers who come here come from a big trauma. They don`t just
come (because) they lost their house. The luggage they carry with them
is their children. That is all they have," Prigol said.


Another woman, who also fled the DRC and wished to remain unnamed,
said she was attacked by men who hacked at her legs. She did not know
what she would do when she leaves the shelter, which takes in women
for a limited period to get them on their feet.


"Thank you God for (the) shelter because it took me (in) and gave me
food. It gave me all things, even soap for bathing. Everything, (the)
shelter gave me ... but after time what (will) I do?" she
asked.


Prigol said many of the women at the shelter were victims of torture,
both indirect and direct, and had fled wars in their home countries,
persecution because of their sexual orientation, or religious
sectarian violence.


SA received over 62,000 asylum seekers in 2015, a number that has
steadily declined from its peak in 2009 when more than 200,000 asylum
seekers crossed SA borders.


Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Fatima Chohan said the number could
decline further as SA amended provisions of its Refugee Act pertaining
to work permits.


One of the amendments seeks to change the law that automatically
grants asylum seekers applying for refugee status a work permit — the
result of a court case brought by a refugee whose application took
three years to complete, leaving her unable to feed her
children.


"Because we issued work permits to people who merely applied, what
this did was it led to a mushrooming of many, many migrants coming
into SA claiming asylum simply because they wanted a work permit, not
because they are genuine refugees," Chohan said.


She said the amendment aimed to differentiate between asylum seekers
in need and those who were not, and that this screening process should
have been implemented from the beginning.


Since 2008, SA has received over a million asylum seekers, of which
only 200,000 have been granted refugee status.


Chohan said this showed the level of abuse of the system.


Gigaba said most asylum seekers in SA are from the Southern African
Development Community region, which was relatively peaceful, so the
main draw card was the strength of the South African economy.


He said the South African economy to "some extent" did need low
skilled economic migrants.


Gigaba said there had not been a decrease in migrants coming to SA
because of the xenophobic violence of 2015.


June 20 2016, 18:43
IN HER small office in Betrams, Sister Kadia Prigol, as director of
the Bienvenu Shelter for women and children, is at the forefront of
the bureaucratic battle asylum seekers face.


The shelter was visited by Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba on
Monday to mark World Refugee Day. It was started in 1998 and hosts 19
women and 19 children.


"I think corruption is first of all [number] one, not clear
information especially when they (asylum seekers) get there, either
for new arrivals and the same for those who need to renew their
documents," said Prigol.


On one occasion, a woman at the shelter had to go to Home Affairs 15
times to renew her documents, she said. There were also difficulties
combining the files of children with mothers who had married.


Sometimes officials wrote the date of the next appointment on
people`s hands, or files were lost.


Gigaba said this was changing. "The bureaucracy is being addressed in
the department. Even as we are preparing for a new policy framework,
we have already begun addressing the bureaucratic glitches people face
and those include the business processes that we are introducing at
our offices," he said.


Gigaba said it was important for asylum seekers not to be seen solely
as numbers in a system. "We need to understand who they are … the lady
who was talking about her six children, three of which she does not
know where they are, and the pain she lives with every day wondering
if they are still alive."


At the shelter, a woman, who did not want to be named, said she fled
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for SA this year and had no
idea where her family was and whether they were safe.


"The mothers who come here come from a big trauma. They don`t just
come (because) they lost their house. The luggage they carry with them
is their children. That is all they have," Prigol said.


Another woman, who also fled the DRC and wished to remain unnamed,
said she was attacked by men who hacked at her legs. She did not know
what she would do when she leaves the shelter, which takes in women
for a limited period to get them on their feet.


"Thank you God for (the) shelter because it took me (in) and gave me
food. It gave me all things, even soap for bathing. Everything, (the)
shelter gave me ... but after time what (will) I do?" she asked.
Prigol said many of the women at the shelter were victims of torture,
both indirect and direct, and had fled wars in their home countries,
persecution because of their sexual orientation, or religious
sectarian violence.


SA received over 62,000 asylum seekers in 2015, a number that has
steadily declined from its peak in 2009 when more than 200,000 asylum
seekers crossed SA borders.


Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Fatima Chohan said the number could
decline further as SA amended provisions of its Refugee Act pertaining
to work permits.


One of the amendments seeks to change the law that automatically
grants asylum seekers applying for refugee status a work permit — the
result of a court case brought by a refugee whose application took
three years to complete, leaving her unable to feed her
children.


"Because we issued work permits to people who merely applied, what
this did was it led to a mushrooming of many, many migrants coming
into SA claiming asylum simply because they wanted a work permit, not
because they are genuine refugees," Chohan said.


She said the amendment aimed to differentiate between asylum seekers
in need and those who were not, and that this screening process should
have been implemented from the beginning.


Since 2008, SA has received over a million asylum seekers, of which
only 200,000 have been granted refugee status.


Chohan said this showed the level of abuse of the system.


Gigaba said most asylum seekers in SA are from the Southern African
Development Community region, which was relatively peaceful, so the
main draw card was the strength of the South African economy.


He said the South African economy to "some extent" did need low
skilled economic migrants.


Gigaba said there had not been a decrease in migrants coming to SA
because of the xenophobic violence of 2015.