SA Shuts Down Refugee Reception Centre

SW Radio Africa (London)

Alex Bell

1 June 2011

The South African government has announced the closure of the only refugee reception centre in Johannesburg, amid warnings that this will have a serious impact on the thousands of refugees flocking across the border every week.

The Department of Home Affairs made the announcement after it lost a court battle launched by neighbouring businesses who tried to shut the facility down, calling the centre a civil nuisance to the businesses in the area. The closure of the centre now means that asylum seekers and refugees will all be directed to Pretoria instead.

“We are deeply disturbed by the lack of planning on the part of the Department of Home Affairs, they were aware of this litigation from more than a year ago and yet made no attempt to put a contingency plan in place. It is unacceptable that poor and marginalised refugees will have to travel to Pretoria, at great personal cost, to receive permit extensions and other services,” said Sicel’mpilo Shange-Buthane the Director of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa.

“Besides the economic hardships this decision means that refugees will face serious administrative difficulties because of their files being relocated. We remember when the office moved from Rosettenville to Crown Mines several years ago, many applicants files were lost. They were asked by officials to lodge fresh applications only to find that they were subsequently charged with fraud for having duplicate applications in the asylum process” Shange-Buthane added.

Shange-Buthane meanwhile said that the court decision could set a bad precedent “for government and local authorities in terms of leasing premises to deliver services to marginalised groups.”

“The outcome of the court case is however disappointing because we feel DHA could have more strongly made out a case which argued for the rights of asylum seekers to receive services in proximity to the areas in which they reside,” she said.

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