Missed appointment not enough to refuse refugee asylum - court judgment

Source: Samigration, 19/02/2019

Although Western Cape High Court Judge Ashley Binns-Ward felt it
was not up to him to decide whether Alexis Kalisa could stay in SA
or not, he referred Kalisa`s matter back to the Refugee Appeal
Board so that his asylum application could be determined afresh.
Kalisa`s travails began in 1994 when his parents fled Burundi for
neighbouring Rwanda during a time of extreme turmoil in the
region, following the death of the presidents of Burundi and
Rwanda in a plane crash and severe conflict between Hutus and
Tutsis.
The judgment noted that Kalisa`s father was being persecuted in
Burundi because of his affiliation to a political grouping known
as the `Union pour le Progres National` (the Union for National
Progress).
Kalisa`s family lived from `hand to mouth` in Rwanda and he joined
or aligned himself with an opposition political movement there.
In 2005, at the age of 18, he left Rwanda for South Africa and
applied for asylum.
It was refused by the refugee status determination officer at the
refugee reception centre in Port Elizabeth in 2007.
He lodged an appeal against the decision to the Refugee Appeal
Board but skipped the appointment in 2008. As a result, his bid
failed.
In the judgment, it emerged that Kalisa moved to Cape Town and in
a wave of xenophobic violence in 2008, found himself living at a
temporary site for foreign nationals set up at the Youngsfield
Military Base in Cape Town.
While there, he was encouraged to regularise his presence in South
Africa and on the insistence of the Department of Home Affairs,
submitted a fresh application for asylum in 2008.
After the violence subsided and he could go back to work, he
periodically had his asylum-seeker permit extended.
But in August 2017 he was told that because his previous appeal to
the Refugee Appeal Board had been unsuccessful, he had to leave
South Africa.
He took the matter to court where the law clinic had argued that
it would be inhumane to separate the family.
Binns-Ward found that authorities were supposed to consider the
merits of the matter whether he was present or not, instead of
turning him down because he failed to turn up for the hearing.
The court provided a strict timeline for Alexis Kalisa, the
Department of Home Affairs, and lawyers from the University of
Cape Town`s Refugee Law Clinic, which represented him, to adhere
to.
The judge`s orders include that the 2008 decision of the Refugee
Appeal Board dated April 3, 2008 rejecting his application for
asylum be set aside and that the matter be sent to the authorities
for a fresh start.
While this is being dealt with, the validity of Kalisa`s permit
must be extended, the court ordered.
In the meantime, Kalisa has made a life for himself in South
Africa with two children and his partner, who is from the
Democratic Republic of Congo
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