Johannesburg is undoubtedly the economic centre of Africa. With this sees the influx of the underprivileged following the allure of prosperity and the chance to better one’s life through economic empowerment and social status. Now the only centre for asylum seekers and refugees in Joburg will be closed after local businesses won a court application against the Department of Home Affairs.

The news was confirmed by the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in SA (Cormsa) yesterday and the closure of the refugee centre means that all asylum applicants would have to go to Pretoria instead.

Cormsa director Sicel’mpilo Shange-Buthane:

The outcome of the court case is… disappointing because we feel DHA could have more strongly made out a case which argued for the rights of asylum seekers to receive services in proximity to the areas in which they reside.

Besides the economic hardships, this decision means that refugees will face serious administrative difficulties because of their files being relocated.

Local businesses had petitioned for the closure of the facility, in Crown Mines, because it was a “civil nuisance,” continued Shange-Buthane.

Home Affairs manager for Gauteng, Raynold Ndema, said that in moving the refugee centre his department was merely complying with the court order that comes into effect today.

He explained that Pretoria had two centres and now asylum seekers and refugees would need to take their matters to Jacaranda city instead and refused to comment on the criticisms the department now faces.

Shange-Buthane described the added pressure some may face as a result of the move of the centre:

The minimum round-trip fare to go to Marabastad by bus is R80, and asylum seekers are not always guaranteed to gain access to the office on the day they present themselves because of long queues.

This means they will have to dig deep and possibly forgo food in trying to access services.

According to him, this was just plain poor planning on the behalf of Home Affairs who had known about the matter for more than a year yet seemingly failed to implement any contingency plan.

[Source: News24]