Happiness is... a welcoming‚ empathetic government department

Source: Sunday Times, 08/04/2018

On Friday‚ the Department of Happiness Affairs is set to open its doors
on the Foreshore in Cape Town.
Sonke Gender Justice and other civil society groups have put together
the department as an “activism event” to target the Department of Home
Affairs.
In 2012‚ the department closed the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office‚
making it difficult for asylum seekers to renew their documentation.
“In an effort to bring more attention and colour to the dust and
despair that characterise the conditions at Customs House‚ where home
affairs is currently housing its limited services‚ civil society will
be hosting the Department of Happiness Affairs‚” a statement read.
“It intends to show the Department of Home Affairs what services to
migrants could look like â€` a welcoming‚ empathetic and receptive space‚
open to all asylum seekers and refugees who wish to apply for
documentation in South Africa.”
Last year the Supreme Court of Appeal found the department`s decision
to close the second busiest refugee reception office in the
country “irrational and unlawful”. It ordered the department to open a
fully functioning reception office in Cape Town again and it set the
deadline for March 31‚ 2018.
This has not happened.
Interested parties met with the department on March 27 to get an update
on the reopening of the refugee reception office. “We were informed
that [it] would not be fully operational by 31 March‚ as it was now up
to the Department of Public Works to secure premises‚ and that further
questions pertaining to the reopening should be referred to their legal
services‚” Sonke Gender Justice said.
The Scalabrini Centre‚ one of the parties which instituted the legal
action against the department‚ voiced its concern about home
affairs’ “failure to adhere to the rule of the law”. In a statement‚ it
said the unlawful closure of refugee reception offices was leading to
the collapse of the asylum system.
“The refugee protection system is now characterised more for its
creation of undocumented asylum seekers than by its primary goal: to
identify and provide protection to refugees.” it said.
The organisation and the Somali Association of South Africa are
consulting with their legal partner‚ the Legal Resources Centre‚ to
ensure the court order is complied with.