‘SA is not an option’: March and March welcomes withdrawal of asylum directive

Anti-illegal immigration group March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma says South Africa should not be an option for people who feel unsafe in their home countries.

Ngobese-Zuma made the remarks following the withdrawal of a directive on asylum seeker applications by Home Affairs Director-General Tommy Makhode, after violent protests in Durban’s central business district (CBD) on Thursday, 8 October, during which several buildings and vehicles were torched.

Operations at several Home Affairs branches, particularly in Durban, were disrupted by anti-illegal immigration groups calling for the directive to be withdrawn.

MARCH AND MARCH REACTS TO HOME AFFAIRS DIRECTIVE WITHDRAWAL

Speaking to The South African outside the Home Affairs branch on Che Guevara Road in Durban, Ngobese-Zuma said the group welcomed the withdrawal of the directive but remained concerned that the Constitutional Court ruling was still in effect.

“I think that is what is going on here, they are trying to legalise the stay of illegal immigrants in South Africa, which is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in my life in a country that is not even European standards to try and duplicate models of third-world countries. We are not okay with that; we want South Africans to have jobs, to have security,” she said.

The former radio personality said South Africa was not an option for people who felt unsafe in their home countries.

“We’ve got our own safety concerns, we’ve got our own economic crisis, we’ve got our own problems and ideally now we are going to call for government to withdraw from the United Nations agreements and call for them to have a referendum on the South African Constitution because we can’t glorify a Constitution that does not serve its people,” she said.

HOME AFFAIRS WITHDRAWS ASYLUM DIRECTIVE

On Friday, the Department of Home Affairs said the directive had initially been issued to all Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) as an operational measure to support the implementation of the court order.

The department said the directive was issued without reference to, or the knowledge of, the Minister of Home Affairs or any other political office-bearer.

It rejected claims that the directive was politically motivated, saying it stemmed from a Constitutional Court case that the department had opposed.