Overview
- A July Constitutional Court judgment ruled that procedural rules in the Refugees Act cannot bar people from lodging asylum claims, and Home Affairs issued a directive at the end of September telling reception offices to accept anyone who expresses an intention to apply for asylum.
- The directive prompted large crowds at a small number of refugee reception centres and overwhelmed processing capacity, with officials and the Inter‑Ministerial Committee on Migration describing the operational strain as unintended consequences of implementing the court order.
- On Thursday, October 8, protests over the directive turned violent in Soweto, Durban and Gqeberha, where dozens of vehicles were torched, foreign‑run shops were attacked, multiple arrests were made and police deployed riot units to restore order.
- Home Affairs has publicly denied the ruling grants citizenship or blanket legalisation and said it will refer a coordinated disinformation campaign using AI images to the Independent Electoral Commission while moving to expand processing and speed identity checks.
- Ministers and the IMC plan short‑ and medium‑term fixes including extra staffing, phased relocation of some reception centres closer to borders from December and faster case screening, but the unrest has heightened anti‑judiciary rhetoric and left migrants, traders and neighbourhoods at increased risk.