ConCourt rules repeat asylum applications not allowed after final rejection

Top court bars repeat asylum applications after final rejection

The Constitutional Court has ruled that asylum seekers whose applications have been finally rejected may not submit repeat applications while remaining in South Africa. The apex court overturned a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that had allowed such reapplications.

Background of the case

The case concerns Burundian nationals Amina Irankunda and Arava Niyonkuru, who fled Burundi for South Africa between 2008 and 2012 and applied for asylum under the Refugees Act 130 of 1998. Their initial asylum applications were rejected by a Refugee Status Determination Officer as manifestly unfounded.

The Standing Committee confirmed those rejections in February and December 2014, and those decisions were not challenged.

Repeat application and subsequent litigation

The respondents lodged new asylum applications with the department on 3 August 2018, asserting they had become sur place refugees because of widespread political violence in Burundi in 2015. On 29 November 2018 they approached the High Court on an urgent basis, seeking to compel the department to grant them section 22 visas pending the main application.

The High Court held the respondents had a clear right to have their applications considered and were therefore entitled to the section 22 visas they sought. The main application was later dismissed on the basis that the respondents should have pursued judicial review of the department’s original rejections rather than seeking an order compelling consideration of subsequent applications.

Department of Home Affairs reaction

The Department of Home Affairs welcomed the Constitutional Court ruling. Department spokesperson Carli van Wyk described it as

“a significant victory against abuse of the asylum system.”

Van Wyk said the judgment confirmed that repeat asylum applications are not permitted once an original application has been finally determined, and that it marked a major step in the department’s efforts to clamp down on abuse of the asylum system and restore the rule of law.

She linked the ruling to recent policy change, noting that it comes just weeks after Cabinet approved the Revised White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection, which introduces the first-safe country principle.

Government statement on systemic reform

A government representative added that the judgment was an affirmation of progress in restoring the rule of law and addressing abuse in the migration and asylum systems, and that these developments demonstrated rapid progress in rebuilding the system.

Key facts:

• The Constitutional Court overturned an SCA ruling allowing repeat asylum applications.
• The case involves Burundian nationals Amina Irankunda and Arava Niyonkuru.
• Their original asylum claims were declared manifestly unfounded and confirmed by the Standing Committee in 2014.
• They lodged new applications on 3 August 2018 and sought urgent relief on 29 November 2018.
• The Department of Home Affairs welcomed the ruling and linked it to the Revised White Paper.