Asylum seekers could lose Tshwane refugee office
Home Affairs has proposed closing the Tshwane Refugee Reception Office. Photo: Seth Thorne Home Affairs has proposed closing the Tshwane Refugee Reception Office and opening a new one at Beitbridge. Asylum seekers who enter through 12 northern border posts would have to apply in person at Beitbridge. A refugee rights lawyer says closing the Tshwane […]
Home Affairs has proposed closing the Tshwane Refugee Reception Office. Photo: Seth Thorne
- Home Affairs has proposed closing the Tshwane Refugee Reception Office and opening a new one at Beitbridge.
- Asylum seekers who enter through 12 northern border posts would have to apply in person at Beitbridge.
- A refugee rights lawyer says closing the Tshwane office would severely prejudice the people who currently use it.
Tens of thousands of asylum seekers and refugees who use the Tshwane Refugee Reception Office (RRO) could have to travel more than 450km to Musina or Beitbridge every few months to renew their permits if the office is closed.
A notice published in the Government Gazette by the director-general of Home Affairs on Friday proposes closing the Tshwane office, which serves asylum seekers living in Gauteng, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
Under a separate notice, a new refugee reception office is planned at Beitbridge, on the border with Zimbabwe. Asylum seekers who enter South Africa through any of 12 ports of entry on the borders with Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique would have to apply for asylum in person at Beitbridge, rather than at any of the five existing reception offices across the country.
The requirement would also apply to any new asylum seeker who cannot prove they entered through another port and whose entry cannot be verified on the department’s systems. This includes new applicants already booked through the department’s online system.
The gazetted notices invite public comment by 30 November.
In a statement, the inter-ministerial committee on migration said the proposals aim to improve the administration of asylum applications, strengthen identity verification and security screening, and reduce abuse of the asylum system.
“The proposals do not alter the legal rights and protections available to asylum seekers under South African law,” it said.
But Claude Marie Bernard Kayitare, a coordinating committee member of Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX), said the move must be weighed against a Constitutional Court judgment in July.
The court confirmed a 2025 Western Cape High Court ruling that struck down amendments to the Refugees Act that took effect in 2020. Under those amendments, applicants who had not entered through an official port of entry, or had not reported to a refugee reception office within five days, were excluded unless they had “compelling reasons”. The court found the amendments could see people returned to danger without anyone assessing whether they were refugees, GroundUp reported.
Under the new proposal, the office at which a person applies for asylum would depend on which port of entry they used, or on whether they can prove they used a different one.
“Every claim must be assessed fairly and individually, with due regard to the principle of non-refoulement,” said Kayitare. Non-refoulement is the principle that people may not be sent back to face persecution.
Kayitare said many asylum seekers are economically vulnerable, have families and children, and cannot afford long-distance travel to Beitbridge.
“The disestablishment of the Tshwane RRO is unreasonable and not justifiable,” said Liesl Fourie, a senior attorney at the Nelson Mandela University Refugee Rights Centre.
“As the largest refugee reception office in the country, the Tshwane RRO is currently serving tens of thousands of existing asylum seekers and refugees with a variety of services. Closing down the Tshwane RRO and demanding that existing refugees and asylum seekers travel all the way to Limpopo for assistance will severely prejudice those existing asylum seekers and refugees,” she said.
Fourie said the country’s five refugee reception offices are all under-resourced and unable to assist new applicants within a reasonable time. Some people have been prohibited from applying for asylum since 2019, she said. The telephone translation service has only 27 lines available on any given day, she said.
She said the department should first make sure existing offices have enough staff, a reliable network, and adequate translation services. Otherwise, a new office would face the same problems.
Nasir Mohamed Moalin, a leader of the Eastern Cape Somali community, said any changes must comply with the Constitution, Constitutional Court judgments and South Africa’s international obligations.
He said decisions affecting refugee reception offices “must be communicated transparently and subjected to meaningful public consultation”.
Kayitare said KAAX plans to submit a formal written response before the deadline, working with refugee-led and migrant-led organisations and with legal and human rights groups. It wants meaningful consultation with affected asylum seekers and refugees, accessible refugee reception services, including at the Tshwane office, and an inclusive online and assisted asylum registration system.
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