If you were born in South Africa to non-citizens you can apply to be a citizen By Tania Broughton It has taken four years of legal battles, but now if you were born in South Africa to foreign parents you can apply for citizenship. It has been an “agonizing journey” for those who consider South Africa to be their only home. The Department of...

Ban on political activity is “illegal, unconstitutional and contrary to the UN convention on refugees” By Tania Broughton South Africa’s new rules governing asylum seekers and refugees could easily have been drafted by the Trump administration, says Sharon Ekambaram of Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR). The regulations, which forbid refugees and asylum seekers from engaging in any political activity, even if it concerns...

In a monumental ruling at the Makhanda high court, judges found it was unconstitutional to bar learners without birth certificates from receiving basic schooling. By Tania Broughton Thirty-seven children have changed the law for themselves and an estimated one million others in South Africa who have been deprived of an education because they are undocumented. In a ruling penned by Judge President...

School’s action directly contradicts instructions of ministers of Home Affairs and of Basic Education By Tariro Washinyira An immigrant child has been out of school for a year after Bodibe Intermediate Public School near Mahikeng refused to enrol him because he lacks documents. The parents received a letter from the school on 8 January stating: “This communique serves to confirm that the school...

Alem Bazabe Ereselo was deemed ineligible for a kidney transplant because of her refugee status By Muchengeti Hwacha On 11 October the Johannesburg High Court handed down a judgment upholding a decision by Helen Joseph Hospital to discontinue life-saving dialysis treatment for an asylum seeker. Lawyers for the asylum seeker are preparing an appeal. Alem Bazabe Ereselo arrived in South Africa in 2010, fleeing political...

The Supreme Court of Appeal has declared Home Affairs’s prohibition on asylum seekers marrying unconstitutional By Muchengeti Hwacha If you are an asylum seeker whose application for asylum in terms of Section 21 of the Refugee Act has not been finalised, you are still permitted to enter into a marriage. The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) affirmed this in a judgment handed down in...

Advocates for learners without birth certificates who have been barred from schools argue that the state is punishing them for circumstances beyond their control. By Tania Broughton The voices of 37 children barred from school because they have no birth certificates will be heard at the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda this week when they argue, on behalf of themselves...

Casual Workers Advice Office vows to continue its work By Zoë Postman In the midst of xenophobic attacks on mostly immigrant-owned shops in Germiston, Johannesburg, non-profit organisation Casual Workers Advice Office (CWAO) was looted and set alight on Monday evening. Shattered glass and CWAO cards were strewn across the pavement outside the office. On Tuesday afternoon, CWAO staff members were cleaning up the...

A group of men armed with crude weapons made their way through the inner city, breaking and looting, in the wake of police raids in which refugees and other migrants were rounded up and their goods confiscated at gun point. By: Jan Bornman "Sizobabamba ngezandla uhulumeni usiphoxelani (We’ll get our hands on them. Why has the government failed/disappointed us),” sang a group...

Foreign nationals with South African or permanent resident spouses do not have to leave the country to apply for spousal visas By Ohene Yaw Ampofo-Anti The Constitutional Court handed down a judgment at the end of June that has important consequences for immigrants. A majority of the judges ruled that foreign spouses of South African citizens and permanent residents may apply for...