Minister of Home Affairs v Saidi and Others

The respondents were asylum seekers who applied for refugee status in South Africa under the Refugees Act 130 of 1998. They were issued with temporary asylum seeker permits under section 22(1). Their applications for refugee status were refused, and they unsuccessfully exhausted all internal review and appeal remedies provided for in Chapter 4 of the Act. Thereafter, they instituted judicial review proceedings in the High Court challenging the refusal of refugee status. Historically, Refugee Reception Officers (RROs) had extended asylum seeker permits pending such judicial reviews. However, after the appointment of a new RRO, the third appellant refused to extend the respondents’ permits, on the basis that the power to extend under section 22(3) terminated once internal remedies were exhausted. The respondents approached the Western Cape High Court, which held that the RRO was empowered to extend permits even after exhaustion of internal remedies and set aside the refusal, remitting the matter to the RRO. The Minister and officials appealed, and the asylum seekers cross-appealed seeking a mandatory order compelling extensions pending judicial review.

The appeal by the Minister of Home Affairs and others was dismissed with costs. The cross-appeal by the asylum seekers was also dismissed. The High Court’s order declaring that the RRO has the power to extend permits after exhaustion of internal remedies and remitting the matter for reconsideration stood.

This case authoritatively clarifies the scope of section 22(3) of the Refugees Act. It confirms that Refugee Reception Officers retain the discretion to extend asylum seeker permits even after internal remedies have been exhausted, including while judicial review proceedings are pending. At the same time, it affirms that asylum seekers have no automatic entitlement to such extensions. The judgment balances administrative discretion with constitutional values, the principle of non-refoulement, and the right to just administrative action, and is a leading authority on the interaction between refugee protection and administrative review in South African law.