Refugee reception offices lack funds, capacity

THE Department of Home Affairs has told Parliament a lack of funds and capacity was crippling the country’s refugee reception offices.

MPs yesterday grilled the department over the closure of its two major refugee reception offices in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

Parliament heard the department was not adequately staffed, with only 713 inspectorate officials.

The department’s acting deputy director-general Jackson McKay said: “If there was an inspectorate at our facilities, people would not have to travel all the way from the north to Cape Town to apply for asylum.

“We have only 713 inspectorate officials in the whole of South Africa. There are more police at OR Tambo than we have inspectorate officials nationally. How can you expect any impact?” said McKay.

McKay said the National Treasury’s decision to put a ceiling on the compensation of employees spending in government had placed their refugee reception offices under immense pressure.

“How can you manage migration if we can’t police it. We don’t have the capacity to police it. We have R7.9 billion, it has still not enough for the Department of Home Affairs.

“Even if you re-prioritise, this is a department at the centre of government. It needs to be treated that way. We are saying capacitate home affairs to do their job, and you won’t lose money you are losing,” said McKay.

The department also briefed the committee on the progress of re-opening the two refugee offices.

Parliament was told during consultations on the Immigration Amendment Bill that the country currently sits with a backlog of about 200 000 applications of asylum seekers.

Home Affairs disregarded a court order last year instructing it to re-open its refugee reception office in Cape Town by March 31.

The office building is open for renewal permits for asylum seekers who registered at the Cape Town office prior to its closure in June 2012. The department explained it was waiting to be assigned a building by the Department of Public Works.

The country has five refugee reception offices – however, the services to first time applicants in two of these offices were suspended.

Home Affair’s acting director-general Thulani Mavuso said the office in Port Elizabeth would be able to process new applications by the end of October, while the Cape Town refugee reception office is set to operate by early next year.