The lack of human resources in the department of home affairs is one of the reasons why 164,780 asylum cases await finalisation, home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi has revealed.
Over 500,000 applications for asylum have been received in the 10 years since 2011, of which 41,213 were granted and 383,987 were refused. Of the cases awaiting finalisation, 133,859 are with the Refugee Appeals Authority, 28,549 with the standing committee for refugee affairs and 2,372 are with the refugee status determination officer, which is the first stage in the process.
The backlog in applications for permanent residence is 35,517 and for citizenship applications 804.
This information on the backlogs was provided by the minister in a written response to a question by National Council of Provinces member for the DA George Michalakis who wanted to know how many applications the department had received in the past 10 years for asylum, permanent residence and citizenship; how many of these applications were processed, successful and declined; the main reasons for declining applications; the current backlog, and the reasons for the backlogs.
“Backlogs are influenced by processes, systems and human resources. Processes and systems are continuously reviewed to enable seamless facilitation and adjudication of applications received. Human resources are still a huge challenge as the present available capacity does not meet the current service demand,” Motsoaledi said.
Delays in processing applications for citizenship “can be attributed to the verification of permanent residence permits/ exemption certificates that take more time,” the minister said.
Earlier this year the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provided R147m towards a four-year project to wipe out the backlog of appeal applications against decisions by refugee officials.
This bottleneck has accumulated over many years dating back to the 2008 financial crisis and was made worse during the Covid-19 pandemic as the Refugee Appeal Authority was not able to function at full capacity.
For asylum seekers the delay in finalising their appeals means they remain in limbo with no legal status.
The funding was to be used to substantially increase the capacity of the Refugee Appeal Authority by 36 from three members and to invest in technology infrastructure to improve system efficiency and facilitate communication with asylum seekers. The department of home affairs will also scale up its capacity and provide administrative support.
Former auditor-general Kimi Makwetu noted in February 2020 that it would take about 68 years to clear the appeals backlog without taking on new cases if nothing changed.
To be granted refugee status in SA, an asylum seeker must come from a country at war; be the victim of political, religious or sexual orientation persecution; or be dependent on a person seeking asylum.
An asylum seeker entering the country is automatically given a five-day permit at the border post to reach one of the five refugee reception centres, where they will be given a three to six month permit so they can apply for refugee status. A refugee status determination office will accept an application, reject it as unfounded (which leads to the appeal process) or declare it to be manifestly unfounded, in which case it is referred to a standing committee on refugee affairs.
A total of 10,797 applications for citizenship were processed in the last 10 years, 10,282 of which were successful and 515 were declined.
A total of 192,386 applications for permanent residence have been received since 2011, of which 118,475 were successful and 41,116 were declined.
Michalakis said he had asked the question because he had received many inquiries from people from other countries who have been living and working in SA and want permanent residence. They want to follow the legal process but had either waited for years or had been refused.
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