Last week Friday more than 300 anti-immigration protesters marched from central Johannesburg to the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein to protest its July ruling on asylum seekers and deliver a memorandum. A vehicle was set alight outside the court, police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, and protesters later moved through the Johannesburg CBD towards the Home Affairs offices before dispersing. Freedom Under Law (FUL) has condemned the violence surrounding the protest.

The march followed a day of unrest linked to the same issue. Last week Thursday, the day before the march on the Constitutional Court, 10 vehicles were set alight in Soweto and 14 in Durban during protests over immigration and the processing of asylum applications. Shops were also looted in Soweto.

The protests stem from a Constitutional Court judgement handed down in July. The court struck down provisions that allowed procedural failures, such as entering South Africa illegally or failing to report within the required period, to prevent an asylum claim from being considered. It ruled that an asylum claim must first be assessed on its merits.

The judgement does not mean that people who enter South Africa illegally automatically qualify for asylum, refugee status, or permanent residence. It means that unlawful entry alone cannot prevent them from applying.

In late September, the Department of Home Affairs issued a directive telling refugee reception offices how to implement the ruling. Within days, the department said its offices had become overwhelmed and officials faced growing safety concerns.

Home Affairs withdrew the directive on Friday, before saying it would develop a new system for complying with the judgement. The withdrawal did not overturn the Constitutional Court ruling, which remains in force.

That distinction was central to Friday’s protest. Demonstrators said withdrawing the Home Affairs directive did not address their objection to the judgement itself and continued with the march to the Constitutional Court.

FUL has condemned the violence at the court, while the government and police have stressed that opposition to the judgement may be expressed through peaceful protest and legal processes.

Home Affairs must now decide how to implement the Constitutional Court judgement after withdrawing its first directive. The court ruling itself remains unchanged.