Overview
- The Constitutional Court unanimously confirmed the Western Cape High Court order declaring sections 4(1)(f), 4(1)(h), 4(1)(i) and 21(1B) of the Refugees Act invalid, removing those procedural grounds for excluding applicants from the asylum system.
- Justices said the challenged provisions acted as 'procedural filters' that prevented merits‑based assessments and therefore breached the international principle of non‑refoulement that protects people from being returned to harm.
- The judgment found phrases such as 'good cause', 'valid reasons' and 'compelling reasons' were undefined, which gave immigration officers unguided discretion and created a real risk of arbitrary decision‑making.
- The court publicly rebuked the Home Affairs respondents for poor litigation and for making unsupported trafficking assertions about Afghan and Bangladeshi nationals, and it ordered the state to pay the applicants' costs.
- The ruling takes immediate effect so asylum seekers cannot be removed on the basis of those procedural defects without a merits hearing, a change that safeguards individual claims and raises urgent administrative questions for Refugee Reception Offices.