The role of institutional architecture in the reception of refugees in South Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACT Post-Apartheid South Africa retains a national refugee reception system comprising of several key pieces of institutional architecture. Yet, since being established in the mid-1990s, the national refugee reception system, as overseen by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), has been plagued by allegations of corruption, serious legal and procedural flaws in the application of the law, and the implementation of increasingly regressive national policies that breach international law, undermining the core principles of refugee protection. This article asks what impact the overarching management of refugee affairs being under the control of DHA has had on individual institutions. Ultimately, what emerges is a government department that from day one has been able to exert its influence over all aspects of refugee affairs, either through key pieces of institutional architecture, or by responding to perceived setbacks through multiple policy amendments. The result is a national system that creates barriers that prevent asylum-seekers and refugees from gaining access to the interior and leaves most forced migrants in the country struggling to access basic rights. Equally, the mounting importance of the judiciary and civil society as the only de jure and de facto custodians of refugee protection in the country becomes explicit.