providers on asylum permitting plan
27 March 2009
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) today (Friday, 27 March 2009) met with
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and service providers to asylum seekers
and refugees to brief them on the departmental plan to alleviate pressure on
refugee reception offices in the Gauteng province.
The meeting, attended by among others Consortium for Refugees and Migrants
in South Africa (CoRMSA), Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and Black Sash,
detailed the planned opening of an interim refugee reception office in Tshwane
that will be up and running from 7 April.
The new centre - the Tshwane Interim Refugee Reception Office (TIRRO) - will
be dedicated to process new applications for asylum from people coming from
Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. It is expected that the
centre will relieve pressure already experienced at the two refugee reception
offices at Marabastad, Pretoria and Crown Mines, Johannesburg.
"TIRRO is a direct response to the current unprecedented number of people
applying for asylum in South Africa. We had to take decisive action to relieve
the pressure at the other Gauteng sites in the short term, and to process the
current backlog. We do not plan, however, to operate the centre for longer than
two years," says Busisiwe Mkhwebane-Tshehla, Acting Chief Director for Refugee
Affairs at home affairs.
Commenting on the plan for the new facility, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe
Mapisa-Nqakula says the challenges brought by the increased number of asylum
seekers cannot be resolved by government alone, but by working with all the key
role players in our society.
"We have done, and are doing, a lot of work to improve our systems and work
ethics. Together we can provide these vulnerable members of our society with
the opportunity to start a new life," says the minister.
For more information contact:
Joseph Mohajane
Tel: 012 810 6315
Cell: 082 909 3543
E-mail: joseph.mohajane@dha.gov.za
Cleo Mosana
Cell: 082 903 8796
E-mail: cleo.mosana@dha.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
27 March 2009
