South Africa: Home Affairs Slams Disinformation On Asylum Application Case

What the report says

South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has rejected what it describes as a disinformation campaign around a Constitutional Court ruling in the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town case. According to SAnews.gov.za, the department said claims that the minister or political actors initiated a suspension of “good cause” interviews for asylum seekers are false.

The dispute concerns parts of the Refugees Act and the processing of asylum applications. The Constitutional Court’s 7 July 2026 judgment confirmed an earlier Western Cape High Court finding that certain provisions were unconstitutional and invalid, including rules that could allow deportation of an asylum seeker who lacked a transit visa. The Scalabrini Centre, a non-profit that works with migrants and refugees, brought the case with support from Lawyers for Human Rights.

Home Affairs said the ruling is binding and that it is legally required to implement it. The department said it issued an operational directive only to carry out the court’s decision, not to expand rights beyond what the judgment requires. It also denied suggestions that the ruling grants citizenship or broadly legalises foreign nationals.

The department said the matter would be referred to the Independent Electoral Commission under the new Code of Conduct on Countering Disinformation. The issue matters because it sits at the intersection of asylum administration, court compliance and public debate over migration policy in South Africa.