The Minister of Home Affairs has withdrawn the new directive with regard to how asylum seekers/refugees are processed due to the public response. The minister went on to say no one could have foreseen the effects of this on refugee reception centers and the communities. They have decided to withdraw the new directive as the facts have shifted. They will try again using other methods and will be stopped again.
All I can say is I am not shocked and this was a very bad idea on whoever thought this would work out any other way. The Constitutional Court being run by judges making decisions that are detached from the realities of the people of South Africa and the challenges they are facing every day.
The idea of allowing asylum seekers an open door with an 180 day review and up to 8 years for a final decision to be made whilst allowing them to work and claim all the benefits a SA citizen would is not very smart. This was never going to end any other way as the citizens of SA who are mostly unemployed and living below the breadline felt threatened.
This asylum refugee directive which was introduced in July and went live this week was never going to fly under the radar and good for the people of SA for standing up for their rights. There are no hotels for refugees or asylum seekers in SA so firstly where were they going to live? there are no jobs with 50-60% unemployment and if these asylum seekers were hired by any company that company would be targeted.
We had a bakery in Johannesburg that was employing Mozambican refugees and this was picketed by locals for 3 weeks even after the business let those employees go. As a business this will not be supported by the locals and will take them years if ever to get back to any type of normality.
The problem with the asylum seekers is where they are from and the religion they mainly represent which is the biggest issue. Many have no forgotten the Westgate shopping mall bombing and terrorist attack in Kenya back in 2013. Those terrorists or the leaders came via South Africa and had direct links to the Muslim Brotherhood. The locals believe what is being imported on purpose is radicalized Muslims and they will not stand for any of this even if it is only partially true. There has to be a small percentage who think that way and even one is one too many.
The UN has their refugee protocols dating back to 1951 and 1967 and they are being abused and no longer beneficial to any country. These UN protocols are being abused by the refugees and by those funding the process when many are coming under false pretenses from countries who do not have any war. This week we saw asylum seekers from Ethiopia and Somalia with Ethiopia unemployment standing at around 20%. Why would anyone think they are going to find employment when that country has 60% unemployment and your benefits from the state are $20 per month?
South Africa is not the UK where they are given free health care and a place to stay and a weekly allowance because there are no such luxuries here. This is why the UK is so attractive because the government is giving so much free stuff and this is being milked.
I do think the government knew what they were doing and knew this was going to be the outcome so they could prove to whoever is behind this that at least they did try. There are two NGO's apparently behind all of this with one being Scalabrini NGO funded by the EU, UN and the US who have no right poking their nises where they are not welcome. This is not being instigated by the SA Government and someone else is pulling the strings mainly as the SA Government does not have enough funds for their own people let alone catering to thousands of asylum seekers. Someone forced the issue and risked the lives of the asylum seekers using them as pawns and it back fired.
The clear answer to the asylum refugee crisis across the world is to leave the United Nations which is now more of a weapon used against you than a club you want to be part of. Form you own pact with neighboring countries instead of being dictated to you by countries with ulterior motives.