'Foreign shopkeepers go to SCA'

In September, an application was brought against the Limpopo provincial government and several departments, submitting that refugees and asylum seekers legally in the country were "entitled to trade and operate business to earn a living in circumstances where they had no other means of livelihood".

Foreign shopkeepers are taking their battle to run businesses freely in townships to the Supreme Court of Appeal, the Sowetan reported on Friday.

Human rights lawyer Anjuli Maistry told the publication that an application for leave to appeal a ruling by the High Court in Pretoria was being drafted.

The application, brought by the Somali Association of South Africa, Ethiopian Community of South Africa, and four other applicants, would be filed within two weeks.

In September, an application was brought against the Limpopo provincial government and several departments, submitting that refugees and asylum seekers legally in the country were "entitled to trade and operate business to earn a living in circumstances where they had no other means of livelihood".

They also submitted that the Musina and Greater Tubatse municipality's decision to close at least 600 businesses run by refugees and asylum seekers who were trading legally was "unlawful and invalid".

Judge Natvarial Ranchod dismissed the application.

Ranchod ruled that the applicants had overlooked that an applicant for asylum had no right to apply for permanent residence, seek employment or receive basic health care and primary education until he or she was recognised as a refugee.