Home Affairs Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi thinks a US NGO is attempting to undermine and attack South Africa’s sovereignty by using the judicial system. In response to the Pretoria High Court’s decision to award refuge to 22 Afghan individuals, Motsoaledi has spoken out.
The court granted the judgment on Friday after being petitioned by attorneys for a US-based Organization on behalf of the 22 Afghan nationals. The Nonprofit said that the Taliban government, which came to power in August 2021, may target the organisation.
“On the 14th, our Beitbridge authorities got a letter from a law company informing them that 22 of their clients will be arriving. They failed to identify the customers or even state their country of origin, therefore we are alerting them that they need to be granted a transit visa in order to enter South Africa and request asylum. As everyone was still in shock, 22 individuals appeared and announced that they were from Afghanistan and wanted to enter the country. Their attorneys had informed us beforehand, and they had Zimbabwean visas,” said Motsoaledi.
Government will challenge the court order, according to Motsoaledi.
“They went to court yesterday to obtain an interim order requiring us to permit these individuals to enter; the return date is March 7, but that court order has been granted; nevertheless, the judge realised that we were not there. We weren’t in court because they manipulated the rules and procedures because they knew we were in Pretoria, but they served a subordinate in Beitbridge via email and they didn’t discover it until after 4 hours had passed. By then, they had already appeared in court and received the order, but the judge realised what had happened.”