By Charmaine Ndlela
The Department of Home Affairs has welcomed a Constitutional Court ruling confirming that repeat asylum applications are not permitted once an original application has been finally determined, saying it strengthens the integrity of South Africa’s immigration and refugee systems.
The majority ruling, handed down on 12 May, upheld the department’s appeal against an earlier Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment that had directed officials to accept fresh asylum applications from two Burundian nationals.
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The case involved Amina Irankunda and Arava Niyonkuru, who fled Burundi and applied for asylum in South Africa between 2008 and 2012. Their applications were refused by a Refugee Status Determination Officer and confirmed by the Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs in 2014.
They lodged new asylum applications in August 2018, arguing that they had become sur place refugees because of widespread
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