Urgent court bid to stop asylum deportations

The South African Human Rights Commission has turned to the courts to stop the Department of Home Affairs from deporting 33 asylum seekers currently in detention in the country’s repatriation centre.

The commission filed the urgent application in the Johannesburg High Court on Saturday morning, after it was informed that the detainees would be deported.

The matter will be heard on Tuesday.

The 33 are part of a group of 39 migrants who have been held at the Lindela Repatriation Centre.

But the commission alleges that their detention is unlawful as it exceeds 120 days, which, according to the Immigration Act, is the maximum detention period. One immigrant has been held for more than 16 months.

The commission’s application includes an urgent request for the courts to stop the deportation, and also asking that the actions of Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor and her director-general, Mkuseli Apleni, be declared unlawful and unconstitutional.

The commission alleges that Pandor and Apleni have allowed the department to detain asylum seekers for more than 30 days without a warrant of detention.

The 39 immigrants at Lindela have been joined by People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (Passop), the refugee, immigrant and asylum seeker rights organisation.

The acting head of the Lindela Repatriation Centre has also been cited as a respondent. Part of the commission’s contention is that officials miscalculate the period immigrants are detained. They argue that it should be counted from the day of arrest as opposed to their arrival at the repatriation centre.

They also argue the department did not follow the correct procedures to enforce warrants of detention, which infringed on the immigrants’ rights.

Passop director Braam Hanekom said the detainees had limited or no access to legal representation and could not enforce their rights.

“I am advised that there is one telephone available from which detainees are allowed to make phone calls. They are not allowed to keep their cellphones on them,” said Hanekom.

He said the UN, the commission and Lawyers for Human Rights had provided several reports over the years showing how the immigrants’ rights had been violated.

If their application is successful, the court will compel Pandor and Apleni to provide the commission with a quarterly report to show how they were complying with the order. The department would also have to provide full particulars of everyone detained at the centre for more than 30 days.

Commission spokesman Isaac Mangena said they were forced to approach the court after efforts to reason with the department failed.

“It is also worth noting that the commission has previously raised concerns about reported physical assaults and attacks on migrants and asylum seekers at the Marabastad offices of the Department of Home Affairs in April this year,” said Mangena.

Apleni said the department had not yet received the court papers but would deal with it based on its own merits.

He said detentions sometimes exceeded 120 days as the identification verification process of asylum seekers was lengthy, where the department had to approach different embassies for confirmation.