South Africa’s asylum crisis is a mess of Home Affairs’ own making
The asylum controversy reveals how closed refugee offices, procedural barriers and Home Affairs’ failures have left legitimate applicants unable to seek protection.
South Africa's asylum crisis is being exacerbated by the Department of Home Affairs' (DHA) own actions and failures. The controversy stems from a Constitutional Court judgment that deemed the DHA's procedural impediments to asylum applicants were invalid. This ruling led to significant protests and riots in Durban and Soweto, fueled by false disinformation about the DHA granting asylum seekers residency, citizenship, or voting rights.
The court found that the DHA's "good cause" interviews and procedural rejections were arbitrary and inconsistent, lacking clear criteria for what constituted valid reasons for not possessing a transit visa.
The DHA issued a directive on September 28, 2026, to reopen the five designated Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) immediately, deferring to the 60-day compliance period with the court order. However, the directive was withdrawn two days later, citing national interest, security considerations, and operational impracticality. Despite this, RROs remained closed as newcomers were once again barred from lodging asylum applications.
Journalists reporting on the situation have been missing crucial context. While the DHA claims its RROs are "overwhelmed," the reality is that South Africa hosts approximately 167,000 refugees and asylum seekers, and there are around 2.4 million international migrants. Asylum seekers and refugees fall under refugee law, requiring them to apply for asylum permits at RROs, whereas migrants apply for visas and permits via VFS offices.
Despite the long queues outside RROs, those unable to be seen on the day were generally given appointments for future submission.
The response to the court judgment has ignored an important reality: many RROs have been closed for new applications for extended periods. Before the 2024 procedural close-out, RROs were shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic (March 2020 to May 2022) and unlawfully remained closed in Cape Town and Gqeberha from 2012 to 2023 and 2011 to 2018, respectively, despite court rulings against such closures. The DHA's culture of ignoring court orders has been a long-standing issue in this crisis.
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