Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on 16 August 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. Photo: Wakil Kohsar / AFP
Court orders Home Affairs to process asylum applications for Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban
The Pretoria High Court has ordered Home Affairs to process the asylum applications of 22 Afghan nationals.
Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on 16 August 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. Photo: Wakil Kohsar / AFP
The Pretoria High Court ordered the Department of Home Affairs to process the asylum applications of 22 Afghan nationals who arrived at the Beitbridge port of entry on 16 February.
READ: Home Affairs opposing court order that granted 22 Afghan people asylum in SA
BACKGROUND ON THE CASE
The asylum-seekers, reportedly in the company of US Citizens, requested asylum transit visas at the border. The request was refused, and a US NGO, The Lifeline Foundation, approached the court urgently.
The Pretoria High Court issued an interim order that allowed the Afghans to be issued asylum transit visas in the absence of DHA.
The Court allowed the DHA to respond to contest the interim order within 24 hours. The Court allowed the Department to submit its answering papers and did not confirm the order initially.
The matter was ventilated in court on 20 February, and judgement was reserved. On 1 March, the Pretoria High Court confirmed that the original interim order granting the Afghan refugees’ asylum transit visas would stand.
COURT ORDERS DHA TO PROCESS AFGHAN ASYLUM APPLICATIONS
“The DHA will abide by the ruling of the Court and will take all necessary steps to give effect to the ruling.
“The DHA will deal with the asylum applications during the asylum process. The decision to abide shows that the DHA respects the rule of law.”
The Department’s spokesperson, Siya Qoza, said the decision to abide by the judgement should not be viewed as “opening floodgates for spurious claims.”
The DHA made it clear that it would approach the country’s courts for relief, if need be, as it has done in this matter.
As previously reported, DHA Minister Aaron Motsoaledi suggested that granting Afghan nationals asylum could pose a safety risk.
The group of asylum seekers fear persecution and death at the hands of the Taliban regime at home.
In 2021, DIRCO said the country was not able to accommodate Afghan refugees.
“The South African government notes the overtures made to the country to consider receiving a number of Afghan refugees who have sought refuge in Pakistan.
“The South African government is unfortunately not in a position to accommodate such a request,” read the DIRCO statement.
In August 2021, the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan about 20 years after the original regime had been toppled.
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