Home Affairs has proposed closing the Tshwane Refugee Reception Office and opening one at the Beitbridge border post, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration said on Friday.
The proposals are in a Government Gazette notice published on Friday 30 October, according to SAnews, the government’s news service. They also say a specified category of asylum seekers may have to report to the Beitbridge office, or be processed through it, for registration, documents, adjudication, permit renewals and updates to their records.
The committee, chaired by Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, said the notice would let the department process asylum seekers “closer to a major port of entry”. It listed five aims: registration near a major border point, stronger border management, better access to immigration and asylum services at the border, closer co-ordination between immigration, refugee-status and border functions, and faster adjudication of claims.
Home Affairs wants to improve the administration of asylum applications, strengthen identity checks and security screening, and “reduce opportunities for abuse of the asylum system”, the committee said.
The notice does not yet say which asylum seekers would have to go to Beitbridge. The committee said affected people will be told the categories, implementation dates, transitional arrangements, documents needed, reporting procedures and where to get help. It said the proposals “do not alter the legal rights and protections available to asylum seekers under South African law”.
The notice opens a public process. Written submissions must reach the department by 30 November 2026, addressed to the Chief Director: Legal Services, for the attention of Advocate Moses Malakate. They can be delivered to the Hallmark Building at 230 Johannes Ramokhoase Street in Pretoria, posted to Private Bag X114, Pretoria, 0001, or e-mailed to the department. The committee asked refugees, civil society groups, lawyers and academics to take part.
“Government remains committed to ensuring that any final decisions are informed by stakeholder input, operational considerations, constitutional principles and South Africa’s international obligations,” the committee said.
The committee has said it is relocating refugee reception work in phases towards ports of entry and border areas. It inspected the Beitbridge border post on 29 June, according to SAnews. The Border Management Authority’s commissioner, Michael Masiapato, had said the week before that more than 8,000 people had been processed through Beitbridge for repatriation. On 26 June the government said it was extending the Musina Refugee Reception Office’s jurisdiction to carry out verifications. Our earlier report on the asylum ruling covers the court case behind the changes to the asylum system, and the politics desk follows Parliament and the courts.
We found no published response to the notice from asylum seekers or civil society groups by Saturday morning. Comments close on 30 November.
