Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has nullified a Department of Home Affairs (DHA) decision to refuse to grant asylum permits to 22 Afghan nationals.
The 22 people reported to the Beitbridge port of entry on 16 February and requested asylum transit visas.
“The immigration officer refused to do so as they were all issued multiple-entry tourist visas by the government of the Republic of Zimbabwe on 20 January,” the department said.
American NGO, The Lifeline Foundation, instituted the court application.
Initially, the court said the Afghan nationals should be granted asylum and gave an interim order in terms of which the department was given 24 hours to respond.
“The DHA did exactly that, and the court refused to confirm the interim order to allow the DHA to file its answering papers,” the department said.
The department added: “The matter was heard by the court on 20 February.”
On Tuesday, the court issued a judgment confirming the interim order as final.
“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 asylum applications during the asylum process. The decision to abide shows that the DHA respects the rule of law,” the department added.
“However, this should not be interpreted as opening floodgates for spurious asylum claims. The DHA will not hesitate to fight the cases in court as it has done in this instance.”
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi previously said the department was challenging the court order because the asylum seekers could pose a risk to the country.
He added if they had left Afghanistan due to the Taliban, there could be a chance that the group could travel to the country to find them.
Motsoaledi told eNCA that the arrest or death warrant for the Afghans showed “they are in trouble”.
Motsoaledi said he believed South Africa was being undermined and that there was a belief people could come into the country and do whatever they wanted.
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