The DA is to request that Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba be summoned to Parliament to explain why the Cape Town and Port Elizabeth refugee reception offices have not been re-opened. On Tuesday, the DA conducted an oversight visit to the Department of Home Affairs Cape Town office on the Foreshore. This office only processes asylum-seeker permit renewals and does not take new applications because the Cape Town refugee reception office was closed in 2012. Some asylum seekers, who spoke with the DA, shared their frustrations with the process as well as the conditions at the current premises‚ which they said posed a health hazard to both asylum seekers and staff. Refugee reception offices are meant to receive and process new applications from people who are seeking asylum in SA. They also renew permits while the applicants await decisions on their permanent status.
In September last year‚ the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) found that the decision to close the Cape Town office ...
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