Court battle over Cape Town asylum seekers
Scalabrini Centre wants Home Affairs Cape Town office to accept new applications by asylum seekers
On Thursday, the Department of Home Affairs was back in the Western Cape High Court over the closure of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office (RRO).
The matter has been disputed in the courts since June 2012, when Home Affairs first closed the office for new asylum applicants.
Cape Town is not the only city where refugee reception offices were closed. Until 2011, there were six centres in the country: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Musina. Since then, the offices in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town have been closed. Asylum seekers who came to Cape Town after June 2012 have had to go to Durban, Musina or Pretoria to register, between 1,500 and 1,900km from Cape Town.
“I can’t think of any government services for South Africans that would require someone living in Cape Town to go to Pretoria,” says Steven Budlender, counsel for the applicants, which included Scalabrini Centre, the Somali Association of South Africa and several asylum seekers.
“It is unthinkable that someone applying for social grants here or an 18-year-old from Khayelitsha who wanted to register to vote would be told to go to Pretoria. What is it about refugee reception services that makes this acceptable?”
Corey Johnson, an advocacy officer at Scalabrini, says he thinks Home Affairs is trying to deter asylum seekers. “The closures are due to DHA’s focus on reducing the number of asylum applications instead of directing resources into how to improve their ability to receive them,” he said. “The general perception of asylum seekers by the department is that they are not genuine and are abusing the asylum system.”
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South Africa Is Leading Africa’s Clean Energy Revolution
South Africa is Africa’s clean energy frontrunner. Since 2011, it has invested 249 billion rand ($16.348 billion US) in wind and solar technology.
SA is followed by Morocco, which has spent $4.2 billion, and Kenya, which has spent $2.4 billion.
Around the world, $335 billion US has been invested in renewable energy – including wind and solar technology – following the crash of oil and gas prices, according to Michael Liebreich, who spoke during African Utility Week at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Liebreich is chairman of the advisory board at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which provides information on clean energy to investors, energy companies and governments.
Business mogul Bill Gates in November committed $2 billion of his own fortune to research and development into clean energy, Liebreich said.
Clean energy investment is on the rise, and wind and solar energy will continue to become cheaper, he added.
Changing to clean energy is like rebuilding an airplane engine in mid-flight, Liebreich said. “In Africa, it’s even more difficult. Here, you’re attempting to rebuild the engine when you’re taking off. That’s a great challenge.”
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It’s not only rich South Africans who are leaving the country – young educated ones are too
A new report suggests that young educated South Africans plan to leave the country to work abroad, rather than plough their knowledge back into the local economy.
The report comes from PPS, an insurance, investment, healthcare and financial planning specialist for graduate professionals.
The company’s latest Student Confidence Index (SCI), conducted among over 1,500 South African students, revealed that 54% of the respondents plan to move abroad for work purposes in the next five years following their graduation.
It follows a report published by New World Wealth, which showed that white millionaire numbers have decreased dramatically in SA – from 36,600 in 2007, to 21,200 in 2015.
Year-on-year, there were 10,900 fewer white millionaires in the country – a drop of 34%, the report said.
According to NWW, the reason for the sharp drop in white millionaires is primarily due to emigration. Major reasons for this include: turmoil in home country, security concerns and optimizing education of children.
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Court battle over Cape Town asylum seekers
Court battle over Cape Town asylum seekers
Scalabrini Centre wants Home Affairs Cape Town office to accept new applications by asylum seekers
On Thursday, the Department of Home Affairs was back in the Western Cape High Court over the closure of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office (RRO).
The matter has been disputed in the courts since June 2012, when Home Affairs first closed the office for new asylum applicants.
Cape Town is not the only city where refugee reception offices were closed. Until 2011, there were six centres in the country: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Musina. Since then, the offices in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town have been closed. Asylum seekers who came to Cape Town after June 2012 have had to go to Durban, Musina or Pretoria to register, between 1,500 and 1,900km from Cape Town.
“I can’t think of any government services for South Africans that would require someone living in Cape Town to go to Pretoria,” says Steven Budlender, counsel for the applicants, which included Scalabrini Centre, the Somali Association of South Africa and several asylum seekers.
“It is unthinkable that someone applying for social grants here or an 18-year-old from Khayelitsha who wanted to register to vote would be told to go to Pretoria. What is it about refugee reception services that makes this acceptable?”
Corey Johnson, an advocacy officer at Scalabrini, says he thinks Home Affairs is trying to deter asylum seekers. “The closures are due to DHA’s focus on reducing the number of asylum applications instead of directing resources into how to improve their ability to receive them,” he said. “The general perception of asylum seekers by the department is that they are not genuine and are abusing the asylum system.”
Source
African Leaders Have no Right to Keep Blaming Colonialism
In February 2016, Bonang Mohale, Shell South Africa chairperson expressed the sentiments previously expressed by Barack Obama on African failures. He said, “We can’t blame God. We only have ourselves to blame.”
He was speaking on the economic state of Africa and he went on, “The reality is that in the days we have been free, we have seen some exponential improvements as well as draconian repression. Africans in most countries out of the 54 are poorer today than they were when we were not free.”
These are some bitter pills to swallow but they have to be consumed anyway. The years of blaming every sort of failure on colonialism and even slavery are way past us. It is sickening when leaders overlook their own misgivings and choose to focus entirely on history to explain the current situations in their countries. The spectrum of vices colonialism is to blame for is ever widening with internalised bigotry, tribalism and corruption forming part of the monstrous list but the new crop of leaders rarely takes responsibility for its own contributions. Mohale therefore asserted that, “Africa’s problems have nothing to do with our resources. We can trace it down to a lack of management, planning, leading, co-ordinating and organising.”
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