Closure of Maitland Refugee Reception office a potential for court action

The announcement by the Department of Home Affairs that after the closure of its Refugee Reception Centre in Maitland in Cape Town that “new applicants will be directed to other Refugee Reception Offices to submit their applications” goes against the precedent previously set by the courts.

In the judgment in the case of when the Refugee Reception office in Port Elizabeth was closed, the courts ordered the Department of Home Affairs to provide all services as is required in legislation within the Refugees Act.

The Maitland Refugee Reception Office in Cape Town will close at the end of this month. The Home Affairs department announced that services rendered to asylum seekers and refugees from the Maitland Refugee Reception Office in Cape Town will, from the end of the month, be rendered from Customs House on the Foreshore in Cape Town.

It appears that the Home Affairs Minister and her department simply has not learnt from its past experiences and appears to ignore court judgments that it has an obligation to respect.

Minister Nkosasana Zuma has shown contempt for the Public Protector when her department simply ignored a deadline set by the Public Protector on a probe by Advocate Thuli Madonsela’s office.

This investigation concerned allegations of abuse of power and maladministration by the Department of Home Affairs in respect of applications for work, residence and study permits. The Minister had until the 24^th of May 2012 to respond and meet the recommendations made in the report. To date, she has still not responded to this report.

It appears that contempt is also shown to the courts and our legal system with and an announcement made by the Department of Home Affairs they are repeating what they did when they closed the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office – by directing new applicants to other Reception Offices.

I will be asking questions of the Minister in this regard, tabling a motion in Parliament on this matter, as well as writing to the Minister in this regard.