Monday to Friday: 07h30 to 17h00.

Saturdays: 08h00 to 13h00

This arrangement will be in place until further notice.

Foreign nationals applying for refugee permits or extensions on existing permits are requested to visit Refugee Reception offices according to the following schedule:

• SADC nationals: Monday and Tuesday
• East Africa: Wednesday and Saturday
• West Africa: Thursday
• Asia and other countries: Friday

Finance Officer

This position requires an individual with sound knowledge and experience of all aspects of financial management.  The ideal candidate should have a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting or equivalent.. The position requires excellent computer skills including accounting packages, preferably QuickBooks, as well as Excel. Ability to work in a multicultural environment and good communication skills are essential. Experience in dealing with complex donor requirements in the NGO sector will be an added advantage.

Key responsibilities include:

• Performing all day-to-day accounting and financial duties in line with CoRMSA’s financial policies  and   procedures
• Preparing the organisation’s budget including project and activity budgets.
• Controlling operating and programme budgets and costs
• Preparing all necessary financial documents
• Preparing project financial reports
• Preparing documents for auditing and liaise with auditors in this regard. Preparing complex donor financial reports
• Doing weekly, monthly and annual financial reports
• Any other duties related to this position as required by the organisation

Please send CVs to info@cormsa.org.za. Closing date 20 April 2012. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you have not received any communication from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please consider that your application was unsuccessful.   www.cormsa.org.za

This is the start of a global campaign to end the detention of immigrant children.  Focus countries include: Australia, Greece, Mexico, Israel, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States. Countries have been chosen for the campaign based on extent of the problem in country, combined with the commitment from local civil society groups.

Click here for a detailed update on this campaign.

On 20 October 2011, Home Affairs publicly announced that the PE Refugee Reception Office would be closed to new applications the following day and would work towards finalising all outstanding claims before 31 March 2012.

Recognised refugees were told that they would have to transfer their files to another refugee reception office in order to access refugee services through the Department.

This abrupt decision caused severe prejudice to the asylum seeker and refugee community considering that the closest office in Cape Town is over 700km away. Many new arrivals were left stranded without documentation and at risk of arrest and deportation. The statistics from the Department indicated that last year 22 000 were assisted at the PE office.  Many asylum seekers, particularly from war-ravaged Somalia, choose the Nelson Mandela Bay area because of a long-standing refugee community which supports new asylum applicants who have no access to state assistance during the application process.

The challenge to the closure was brought by the Eastern Cape branch of the Somali Association of South Africa (SASA) and the Project for Conflict Resolution and Development (PCRD) with Lawyers for Human Rights and the Refugee Rights Centre at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University as their attorneys.

The court found that a core function of a refugee reception office is to allow new arrivals to apply for asylum.  If that function is removed, the office has been de-established as a refugee reception office.  The Refugees Act then requires consultation with the Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs.  The Court was concerned that the department had not consulted with the Standing Committee despite clear obligations to do so in terms of the Act.

“Today’s decision is a vindication that the Department cannot act outside of the law,” said Linton Harmse, Director of the Refugee Rights Centre.

“The constitutional right to just administrative action applies equally to all, including foreign nationals.”

This decision follows a similar decision in the North Gauteng High Court which found that the decision to close the refugee reception office in Johannesburg was also unlawful and ordered the Director-General of Home Affairs to engage in a public consultation process and reconsider his decision to close that office.  To date, no efforts have been made to engage the public or render the decision lawful.

In light of these judgments and the general failure of the department to act lawfully in terms of rendering services to the refugee community, we call on the Minister of Home Affairs to intervene on an urgent basis to prevent further prejudicial and illegal actions on the part of the department with regards to the operations of the country’s refugee reception offices.

We further call on the Minister and the Director-General to engage with the public, including stakeholders and members of the asylum seeker and refugee community, to discuss the future of refugee protection in South Africa.  Such engagement will prevent further embarrassment of South Africa on the international stage and ensure that South Africa’s reputation as a country based on human rights and the rule of law is protected.

This position requires an individual who has varied experience working on social services related issues including education, social security, labour, health as they relate to refugees and migrants. The ideal candidate should have a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science, Law, Human Rights or related field. A higher degree will be an added advantage. Knowledge and understanding of refugee and immigration law is a prerequisite, so are excellent writing, reporting and presentation skills and willingness to work after hours and on weekends when required. Highly developed communication, networking and interpersonal skills are a prerequisite. Knowledge of French will be an added advantage.

Key responsibilities include:

• Developing an advocacy and lobbying strategy addressing social services issues as they relate to non-nationals with regards to education, health, labour, social security and others.
• Work in close collaboration with other staff, CoRMSA network members and partners to advocate on matters of social services and access to the asylum system.
• Implement advocacy and awareness raising campaigns.
• Conduct research and policy analysis and produce briefings and reports on current policies and practices, and proposals for change and prepare documents for submission to relevant parliamentary structures.
• Represent CoRMSA in various fora and produce meeting reports thereof.
• Build strategic relationships with relevant government departments and other institutions working with non-nationals in general and on access to social services in particular while identifying advocacy opportunities and strategies for engaging.

Please send CVs to info@cormsa.org.za. Closing date 08 February 2012. CoRMSA will contact only shortlisted candidates. If you have not received any communication from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please consider that your application was unsuccessful.  Refugees and women are particularly encouraged to apply. www.cormsa.org.za

The Court found that a decision had indeed been taken in line with an apparent policy pronouncement by Cabinet to move all asylum services to border posts.  It was agreed between all parties that if a decision was found to have been taken, the necessary public consultation and consultation with the Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs had not taken place as required by the law.

According to Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, head of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme at LHR, “We are encouraged by the court’s decision in this matter.” She added, “We continue to be extremely concerned about the closures of the metropolitan refugee reception offices. The Department of Home Affairs has not carried out any public consultations on a decision which will negatively affect a vulnerable group. Further, the department has so far failed to put up any infrastructure or make contingency arrangements to provide services to refugees and asylum seekers. Notwithstanding, they have started closing down refugee reception offices.”

Lawyers for Human Rights has also challenged the closure of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office.  This centre was closed as of 30 November 2011 apparently in line with the same Cabinet policy.  That matter is due to be heard on 9 February 2012 in the Eastern Cape High Court in Port Elizabeth.

In terms of the order, an interim office at the regional immigration office must continue to provide asylum services to all holders of asylum seeker and refugee permits issued under the Refugees Act.  The order also stipulates that no one whose permit expired between the period of 30 November 2011 and 14 December 2011 when the refugee office was non-functional will be subjected to a fine or any criminal sanction for the expiry of that permit.

This order, which was agreed to by the Minister and Director-General of Home Affairs, also set out expedited dates for filing court papers in order to ensure that the matter is adjudicated before the High Court without unnecessary delay.

The Department has stated in a similar case regarding the closure of the refugee reception office in Johannesburg that it is the intention of the Department to move all asylum and refugee services to border posts and to continue with the closure of refugee reception offices in metropolitan centres.

“We are extremely concerned about the proposed move to the borders.  There has been no consultation with the public about this abrupt and hasty change in policy,” said David Cote of LHR’s Strategic Litigation Unit.  “This is all the more disconcerting considering that the Department has already started closing refugee reception offices without putting any infrastructure in place to deal with existing or new applicants who already live and depend on the support in metropolitan centres.”

The matter has been set down for hearing on 9 February 2012.