Programme News
6 August 2015
(Press release)
The Constitutional Court has refused the Department of Home Affairs’ application for leave to appeal March’s ruling in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) that the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office (RRO) be reopened.
The SCA had ordered Home Affairs to reopen the RRO and provide full services by 1 July 2015. The Department then appealed the ruling in the Constitutional Court where...
28 July 2015
(News)
Researchers have warned that disturbingly high levels of corruption in the Asylum Seeking Process may soon spread to other areas of the public service.
For the first time, the African Centre for Migration and Society, together with Lawyers for Human Rights, conducted research which shows that close to a third of migrants is experiencing corruption.
Senior researcher, Roni Amit, says many...
28 July 2015
(News)
Children seeking asylum will now be included in their caregiver’s application‚ regardless of whether they are biological relatives‚ Lawyers for Human Rights and the Centre for Child Law said.
This follows a ruling by the North Gauteng High Court on Thursday that all children entering South Africa with an relative applying for asylum will be a regarded as a dependent of the...
28 July 2015
(News)
The Department of Home Affairs has gone into damage control mode following a report that listed its Marabastad office as its most corrupt.
In response to the damning finding, in which Durban was found to be the least corrupt, at 3%, the department has set up Operation Bvisa Masina - Vendan for "throw out the rot" - to restore order throughout Home Affairs branches.
A response team...
27 July 2015
(News)
A report by Lawyers for Human Rights and the University of the Witwatersrand-based African Centre for Migration and Society, released this week, paints an ugly picture of the culture of bribery in South Africa’s refugee reception offices.
If we took the time to understand what drives anyone to leave the country of their birth - at times leaving behind loved ones such as children, spouses,...
27 July 2015
(News)
The Department of Home Affairs went into damage control mode following a report that listed its Marabastad office as its most corrupt.
In response to the damning finding, the department had set up a response team and a counter-corruption initiative — Operation Bvisa Masina, which is Venda for "throw out the rot" — to restore order throughout Home Affairs branches.
Home...
25 July 2015
(News)
Certain home affairs offices have been singled out for attention because they are apparently hotbeds for fraud and corruption.
This was the message delivered by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba at a press briefing in Pretoria on the report about corruption at Marabastad Refugee Reception Office.
The report‚ released early last week by Lawyers for Human Rights (LRA) and the African Centre...
24 July 2015
(News)
On any given weekday somewhere between 500 and well over a thousand people line up at the Marabastad office of the department of home affairs, on the fringes of downtown Pretoria, to be processed for paperwork to confirm or reconfirm their status as asylum seekers or refugees in South Africa.
Before they leave again, according to research published this week, about half of them will have paid at...
23 July 2015
(News)
Corruption Watch has described widespread fraud and corruption at the Home Affairs department’s refugee reception offices as a black market.
On Wednesday, the African Centre for Migration and Society released the findings of a report, revealing the shocking extent of corruption in South Africa’s asylum system.
Foreign nationals have apparently been paying bribes to have their...
23 July 2015
(Press release)
The report released by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and the African Centre of Migration & Society (ACMS) on institutionalised corruption within the asylum application processes at Home Affairs offices countrywide must be tabled in Parliament and must be addressed.
The report contains shocking statistics and findings and produces evidence of human rights abuses and rampant corruption at...