The Department of Home Affairs has withdrawn a directive governing asylum applications following mounting pressure on refugee reception centres and violent protests in Durban and Soweto.
The unrest has raised concerns about public safety, damage to businesses and the impact on livelihoods.
In Durban’s CBD, a fire gutted a municipal-owned commercial building housing several businesses, including a doctor’s surgery. Several vehicles were also set alight, leaving businesses damaged.
The department’s decision follows a directive issued by its director-general late last month in response to a Constitutional Court judgment.
In July, the Constitutional Court ruled that certain provisions of the Refugees Act were unconstitutional, finding that procedural requirements could prevent some people from accessing the asylum application process.
Home Affairs said the directive was intended to guide refugee reception offices in implementing the court’s ruling.
The department maintained that the decision was operational rather than politically motivated, adding that it had been issued without the knowledge of the minister or other political office-bearers.
However, the implementation of the directive had consequences that could not have been anticipated from the court judgment alone, the department said.
Reception centres came under pressure within days of the directive being issued, placing officials at risk and raising concerns about public safety and order.
The department said it would now begin a fresh process to determine how best to comply with the Constitutional Court’s ruling while ensuring that asylum applications are handled through a safe, sustainable and operationally manageable system.
Meanwhile, tensions flared outside the Home Affairs Refugee Reception Centre on Che Guevara Road in Durban on Wednesday.
More than 100 asylum seekers gathered outside the facility to submit their applications, but the road leading to the centre was closed as police confronted protesters.
Officers carrying shields faced an angry crowd armed with sjamboks, knobkerries and sticks.
Residents living near the centre told Newswatch that a long queue had formed outside the office earlier that morning, but people quickly dispersed when protesters arrived.
A small group of asylum seekers remained inside the reception centre while waiting for the situation outside to calm down.
Later on Wednesday afternoon, police began escorting the asylum seekers to nearby streets, allowing them to make their way home.
The withdrawal of the directive comes as the department seeks to establish a safer and more manageable system for processing asylum applications while giving effect to the Constitutional Court’s ruling.