JOHANNESBURG - The government is legally bound to protect asylum seekers from being returned to countries where they face danger.
Those are the views of immigration expert Moeketsi Seboko, who said a court judgment reinforces the law that prevents South Africa from sending asylum seekers back to countries they've fled.
Seboko points to the United Nations Refugee Convention signed by South Africa in 1996 with the core principle of the convention being non-refoulement.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the principle asserts that a “refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom."
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Furthermore, it says that the document outlines the “basic minimum standards for the treatment of refugees, including the right to housing, work and education while displaced so they can lead a dignified and independent life.”
“That's what we signed into and agreed to. That was later codified in Section 2 of the Immigration Act. So that became law: An asylum seeker who is in South Africa seeking asylum cannot be returned to their country of origin, birth, or nationality,” he explained.
As such, Seboko said government has no choice but to implement what they have signed into law.
“It's not the Constitutional Court which made this law. The Constitutional Court just interpreted and then instructed Home Affairs to implement the law.”
Tensions have risen at Refugee Reception Centres as staff processed new asylum applications.
It follow a Constitutional Court judgment delivered on 7 July, which declared certain provisions of the Refugees Act unconstitutional and invalid.
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The court ruled that asylum seekers could not be denied access to the asylum system solely because of procedural failures.
The judgment was followed by violent protests in Durban and Soweto, during which more than 20 vehicles were torched.
On Friday, the Department of Home Affairs withdrew a directive issued on 28 September concerning the intake of asylum applications.