Roundtable on "Manufacturing Illegality"

On the 5th of March, CPLO organized an event to discuss the report on Manufacturing Illegality, written by SIHMA researchers and funded by Hanns Seidel Foundation. The report explores the development of new asylum seeker policy aimed at curtailing asylum seekers’ right to work in South Africa, whilst they away the finalisation of claims, and what the country can learn from similar policy developments in the European Union. The event was addressed by the three co-authors/researchers of the report: Mr Sergio Carciotto, Associate Director at SIHMA; Dr Vanya Gastrow, Post-Doctoral Fellow at UCT; and Mr Corey Johnson, Advocacy Officer at the Scalabrini Centre in Cape Town.

Mr. Carciotto gave an introduction on the report and the methods, and stressed that every effort was made by the research team to contact the Department of Home Affairs and the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs to form part of the research, but to no avail. Mr Carciotto continued to highlight some of the main findings of the Report (which the next two speakers elaborated on) and emphasised that the Report’s conclusion and recommendations are based on projections/assumptions of what would happen when the amendments to the Refugee Act are implemented.

Mr. Johnson talked about the development of the Refugee Act and the active role civil society played in ensuring the development and adoption of a very progressive piece of legislation that is hailed throughout the world. However, while the legislation may be progressive, the implementation has been characterised by an extremely restrictive approach to the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. Mr Johnson further stressed that while the Refugee Act entitled refugees to seek employment, it had been silent on a similar right for asylum seekers. However, this had changed with the publication of the Regulations on the Refugee Act, which were drafted with little public consultation after the adoption of the Act. The Regulations now prohibit asylum seekers from seeking employment or studying.

Dr Vanya Gastrow’s input centred on the implications of the Refugee Act’s curtailment of asylum seekers to seek employment. Dr Gastrow argued that the current wording of the Act prevents asylum seekers from self-employment. The wording could also, in the context of the Department of Home Affair’s White Paper on International Migration, mean that asylum seekers may be excluded from all forms of work. The consequence of this prohibition on self-employment will have a negative impact on the livelihoods of asylum seekers which may force them to circumvent the law to avoid facing destitution. By unpacking the implications of curtailing asylum seekers’ right to seek employment, Dr Gastrow illustrated that the amendments to the Refugee Act would have few benefits for South Africa, and marked a clear political shift from an emphasis on human rights and inclusivity to exclusive national interest.

Roundtable on "Manufacturing Illegality"

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Roundtable on "Manufacturing Illegality"

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