Article Posted: 24 March 2021 // Tania Copeland.
Let’s talk about human rights
This past week saw lots of interesting posts about asylum seekers and refugees here in South Africa. Firstly, there was a mock party celebrating the reopening of the Cape Town Refugee Centre. Why mock, you say? Well, it hasn’t reopened and although Home Affairs have issued a blanket extension on all permits until the 31st March 2021, they have also not indicated if this date will be extended, when the Refugee offices will re-open and what assistance they can receive now for the struggles they are facing in all markets. Many employers, landlords and school admins do not know about the waiver and seeing an expired permit, these displaced children cannot start school, their parents cannot access health care, cannot apply for jobs or access their bank accounts. The Scalabrini Centre, Lawyers for Human Rights and others beseeched Minister Aaron Motsoaledi “to fast track the resumption of services” according to the Daily Maverick.
The second big newsworthy story was reported on ENCA. Today saw the signing of a historic agreement between Home Affairs and the United Nations Refugee Agency. In this agreement, DHA has promised to clear the backlog of asylum application appeals within the next 2 years and to eliminate future delays while the UA in turn has agreed to provide extra funding to employ more staff dealing with refugee matters and to update the appeals process. It is believed around 185,000 asylum seekers are affected.
On a quick side visa note, the e-visa which was piloted in NZ a few years ago is looking like it will be more widely available in the near future. Watch this space and I will keep you ahead of the visa times.
Yours in immigration news
Tania Copeland