So Far not So Good: An Analysis of Immigration Decisions under the Interim Constitution

No Easy Walk: Advancing Refugee Protection in South Africa

“…In other words, there has been no apparent "nexus" established in South Africa between a limited rights regime, and the liberalizing of asylum procedures. In fact, the primary issue that locally based commentators have been concerned with concerns the lack of basic administrative justice in the administration procedure itself (Klaaren 1996(Klaaren , 2000. In the absence of legal representation, it was urgently felt that the system needed to include adequate checks against administrative unfairness, since the consequences of a wrong decision in the procedure could very well amount to further persecution as rejected claimants were returned to their countries of origin (Kerfoot 2000).…”

“…Africa is characterized by a high degree of arbitrariness, which fails to achieve acceptable standards of administrative justice (Klaaren 1996;Handmaker 1999a:295;Klaaren and Sprigman 2000;Kerfoot 2000). Applications tend to be decided favorably with regard to the general conditions in certain countries perceived as "refugee generating," or rejected on the grounds that conditions are perceived as "safe"-in other words on a "group" basis, rather Other concerns over the procedure include: the interviewing process (including the absence of qualified translators); inadequate access to country information; and the sheer lack of staff available to conduct interviews and make determinations.…”

“…The contents and implementation of this Act have been roundly criticized, and its constitutionality seriously questioned (Klaaren 1996(Klaaren , 1998Crush 1998;Klaaren and Sprigman 2000).…”

“…However limited the number of staff, the majority of whom urgently need training, make for a cumbersome system which has consistently failed to achieve satisfactory standards of administrative justice (Klaaren 1996;Kerfoot 2001). …”

No Easy Walk: Advancing Refugee Protection in South Africa

“…number of immigrants to the Union, especially from India (Peberdy and Crush 1998). The contents and implementation of this Act have been roundly criticized, and its constitutionality seriously questioned (Klaaren 1996(Klaaren , 1998Crush 1998;Klaaren and Sprigman 2000).…”