Asylum seekers | Wave of applications following ConCourt ruling
High stakes tension and public fury erupt across the nation as thousands of undocumented migrants descend on government facilities following a landmark judicial ruling.
Asylum seekers have flooded refugee centers across the country, forming massive snaking lines as they queue to submit their official applications for asylum in South Africa.
The Department of Home Affairs is actively processing these applications in strict compliance with a binding Constitutional Court judgment delivered in July 2026 regarding asylum seekers.
The rapid processing of these applications has sparked widespread outrage among anti-illegal migrant groups, including the organization March in March.
Protest movement leader Visvin Zuma has consistently called for undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country immediately.
Journalist Nomsa Mvubu reports that the views of Visvin Zuma remain completely unrelenting as the anti-migrant movement descended directly upon the Durban refugee center on Wednesday, October seventh, 2026.
Speaking directly from the chaotic scene, Visvin Zuma voiced intense frustration over the thousands of undocumented men gathering at the facility.
“Right now you are seeing thousands and thousands and thousands of men from god knows where who are coming here because they want to legalize their stay in South Africa and we are expected to accept that because if we don’t then we are xenophobic or we are not following the law”, declared Visvin Zuma.
Despite the fierce public backlash, the overwhelming scenes outside national refugee centers fall directly within the legal confines established by the highest court in the land.
The massive influx stems from the Constitutional Court judgment issued on July seventh, 2026, in the matter of Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town and another versus the Minister of Home Affairs and others.
The Apex court confirmed an order of constitutional invalidity against specific sections of the Refugees Act that previously allowed asylum seekers to be disqualified from refugee status based on immigration-related procedural non-compliance before their claims could be assessed on merit.
Following the landmark judicial order, the Department of Home Affairs issued direct instructions to refugee reception officers to accept applications from all individuals seeking protection, including those who entered the country without official documentation.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni addressed the mounting public anger, pointing out that the backlash erupted months after the court delivered its decision.
“The judgment was on the 7th of July 2026. The Concord judgment to date and the uproar started 2 days ago which was on the 7th of October 2026 which is literally 3 months later after the judgment because there was no issue”, stated Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.
The inter-ministerial committee convened on Wednesday evening to address the severe legal and administrative consequences arising from the Apex court judgment.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi announced immediate executive remedies, revealing plans to physically relocate all urban refugee centers.
Relocating the facilities was previously highlighted during an official address delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa in June, where the head of state announced that refugee centers would be moved from inland urban centers directly to border zones.
Mmamoloko Kubayi confirmed that the government will execute a phased-in relocation strategy starting in December of this year to ensure applications are processed in a controlled manner directly at the border.
Under the new operational strategy, individuals whose applications are rejected will be turned back immediately at the official port of entry.
Executive interventions have failed to resolve deep legal contradictions surrounding the interpretation of the Constitutional Court decision.
High Court Judge President Mlambo has officially convened a full court bench to achieve urgent legal clarity on how courts must handle detained undocumented asylum seekers who face pending deportation.
The legal crisis intensified after two separate judges sitting in the Gauteng High Court issued completely contradictory rulings on cases involving detained undocumented asylum seekers who expressed an intention to apply for asylum.
The first judge ruled that the moment a detainee expresses an intention to seek asylum, immediate release from custody must follow so the individual can independently access the refugee reception system.
The second judge, presiding over a separate matter involving twenty-one undocumented foreign nationals detained at the Lindela Repatriation Centre, refused to release the detainees from custody.
Instead, the second judge ordered the Department of Home Affairs to process the asylum interviews of the twenty-one detainees immediately inside the facility.
Confronted with conflicting legal precedents, Judge President Mlambo imposed an immediate moratorium halting the hearing of all similar applications across Gauteng until full legal certainty is established.
The full court bench will determine whether an undocumented person who expresses an intention to seek asylum must be released immediately from detention pending application processing, or whether that individual can lawfully remain detained while access to the asylum process is facilitated.
Reporter Chriselda Lewis confirms that the high-stakes legal battle for certainty will be argued before a full panel of judges at the end of October.
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