PE court orders refugee office to remain open in Port Elizabeth

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and the Refugee Rights Centre at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, on behalf of the Somali Association of South Africa (SASA) and the Project for Conflict Resolution and Development (PCRD) was granted an order by consent today, Tuesday 13 December 2011 in the Eastern Cape High Court in Port Elizabeth regarding the closure of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office. 

In terms of the order, an interim office at the regional immigration office must continue to provide asylum services to all holders of asylum seeker and refugee permits issued under the Refugees Act. The order also stipulates that no one whose permit expired between the period of 30 November 2011 and 14 December 2011 when the refugee office was non-functional will be subjected to a fine or any criminal sanction for the expiry of that permit. 

This order, which was agreed to by the Minister and Director-General of Home Affairs, also set out expedited dates for filing court papers in order to ensure that the matter is adjudicated before the High Court without unnecessary delay. 

The Department has stated in a similar case regarding the closure of the refugee reception office in Johannesburg that it is the intention of the Department to move all asylum and refugee services to border posts and to continue with the closure of refugee reception offices in metropolitan centres. 

 “We are extremely concerned about the proposed move to the borders. There has been no consultation with the public about this abrupt and hasty change in policy,” said David Cote of LHR’s Strategic Litigation Unit. “This is all the more disconcerting considering that the Department has already started closing refugee reception offices without putting any infrastructure in place to deal with existing or new applicants who already live and depend on the support in metropolitan centres.”

The matter has been set down for hearing on 9 February 2012. 

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