Fears over refugee office

Source: Cape Argus, 06/11/2018

Advocacy groups concerned Department of Home Affairs will miss
deadline for opening
REFUGEE advocacy groups are wary that the Refugee Reception Office in
Cape Town won’t be opened as predicted by the Department of Home Affairs.
Initially, the office was supposed to be opened in March this year,
but the department missed that deadline.
Miranda Madikane, the director of the Scalabrini Centre, said: “As per
the Supreme Court judgment the department should be issuing monthly
updates as to their process and planning for the reopening. We have
only received reports inconsistently, and the few reports we have
received have been tardy, scant in detail, copy and paste from
previous reports with no updates or changes made to planning deadlines
not yet achieved, and addressed to other individuals.
“We do not feel confident in the department’s sincerity to open the
office as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Madikane said the Scalabrini Centre and Somali Association of South
Africa, along with the Legal Resources Centre, had launched an
application to the high court seeking the appointment of a special
master to ensure compliance with two orders issued by our courts.
Home Affairs disregarded a court order last year instructing it to
reopen its refugee reception office in Cape Town by March31.
The country has five Refugee Reception Offices; however, the
department suspended the services to first-time applicants in two of
these offices.
The office building is open for renewal permits for asylum seekers who
registered at the Cape Town office prior to its closure in June 2012.
The Department of Home Affairs maintained its defence and said it was
waiting on the Department of Public Works to provide suitable office
accommodation.
Home Affairs spokesperson Thabo Mokgola said: “Let me put it on record
that the department has no intention to disregard the judicial
directive and we will duly respect the judgement. In this regard, we
have commenced with plans to comply with the order. We have allocated
a budget within the ambit of the current base line. We have
prioritised the funding and filing of key posts to get the centre
operational.”