2 September 2020 | Volume 79 | Edition 9
Home Affairs inefficiency leaves migrant women vulnerable
Source: Wane
Jeremy Simpson
With bureaucratic barriers and a 68-year backlog, Home Affairs immigration policies and a political conversation with an anti-immigrant flavour often leave migrant women seeking asylum vulnerable. This is the second and final piece in a series about the experiences of migrant women.
I
mmigration over the last two years has become one of the more hotly contested issues in South Africa. Political parties decried a massive influx of “illegal immigrants”at our borders, blamed irregular migrants for our failing health care systems or even in some instances used them as the sacrificial offering for all our country’s vices. This inflammatory political environment as well as the deluge of bureaucratic cobwebs makes the process of settling down as an asylum seeker particularly challenging and confusing, and even more so for women.
“This will take 68 years to clear without taking new cases, substantiating the AuditorGeneral claim about ‘Regression at Home Affairs.’”
without taking new cases, substantiating the Auditor-General claim about “Regression at Home Affairs.” This inefficiency, which many immigration advocates believe is used to frustrate asylum seekers out of the system, has a disproportionate effect on women. “You have really legitimate people who cannot get any assistance,” Aimée-Noël Mbiyozo, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, remarked, “Some of the women that I have met have some of the most harrowing stories … and they can’t get in. And this is not a proud story for South Africa.”
Moreover, South Africa only has five Refugee Reception Offices (RRO): Musina, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town. These RROs cause even more trouble for those who have While South Africa has an array of progressive already been given refugee status when they immigration laws, their application by must reapply every four years. According to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is regulations, refugees must reapply at the same almost non-existent. Instead, in its place RRO where they applied four years earlier. we have a costly and severely backlogged system. According to a 2019 Auditor General “Some of the women that I have met have report, the Standing Committee for Refugee some of the most harrowing stories … and Affairs and the Refugee Appeals Board face they can’t get in. And this is not a proud story a backlog exceeding 40 000 and 147 000 for South Africa.” respectively. This will take 68 years to clear
Nandi Rayner, a researcher in the UCT Refugee Rights Unit, points out that this often imposes an undue burden on female refugees. “They often take the childcare responsibility,” explained Rayner, “and when they have to go and renew their permits […] they face the large cost of having to find someone to look after the kids or having to travel with the whole family to a Refugee Reception Office.” In certain circumstances, files can be transferred to a closer RRO; however, according to Rayner, this seldom happens. Furthermore, the Cape Town office has been closed for seven years, despite a Supreme Court of Appeals ruling mandating DHA to reopen the office by 31 March 2018. The Home Affairs narrative that the asylum system is being overwhelmed by young, able bodied men seeking work also leaves women in a vulnerable position. Both in her 2018 Institute for Security Studies policy brief and in her interview with VARSITY, Mbiyozo argued that the Department overstates this abuse. Around 4% of foreigners who remained in the country in 2015 applied for asylum. Furthermore, government immigration policy demonstrates a significant desire for attracting “high-value migrants” over low-skilled migrants.