The Department of Home Affairs is pushing back against a wave of false claims surrounding the Constitutional Court’s 7 July 2026 judgment in the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town matter, warning that disinformation about the ruling threatens its ability to implement a binding decision with direct operational and financial consequences for the asylum system.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the department said nefarious actors had launched a large-scale disinformation campaign targeting the Minister of Home Affairs and other officials. The false claims assert that the decision to suspend good cause interviews was taken at the initiative of the Minister, the department or political parties. The department rejected this categorically, noting that it was public knowledge that the case had been vigorously opposed by the department and that it produced a binding ruling of the Constitutional Court.
The judgment itself carries significant implications for how the department runs its asylum processing operations. The Constitutional Court confirmed the Western Cape High Court’s declaration that certain provisions of the Refugees Act were unconstitutional and invalid. Among the provisions struck down were sections allowing immigration officials to deport an asylum seeker who is in the country without a transit visa, a document issued at a port of entry to allow a person to travel to a refugee reception centre and apply for asylum.
The litigation was brought by the Scalabrini Centre, a non-profit organisation that assists migrants, refugees and local South Africans, represented by Lawyers for Human Rights. The centre challenged the Minister of Home Affairs over practices related to asylum seekers and the “good cause” interviews required for their applications. Under the contested framework, applicants who failed to meet the documentation conditions had to provide immigration officers with a valid reason and show good cause for lacking the required visa. These interviews were conducted to determine whether someone without the required documentation could proceed with an asylum application.
In the Western Cape High Court, the applicants argued that the provisions unjustly barred individuals with irregular immigration status from seeking asylum, violating their constitutional rights and international non-refoulement principles.
For the department, the compliance burden is now fixed. On Wednesday it said the Constitutional Court judgment is binding and that the department is constitutionally obliged to implement it. An operational directive was subsequently issued solely to give effect to that judgment, which the department described as standard practice to ensure compliance with rulings of the highest court in the land.
The department also addressed the swirl of claims circulating around the ruling, dismissing assertions that the judgment grants asylum seekers citizenship or provides for the blanket legalisation of foreign nationals as categorically false.
“Respect for binding court judgments is fundamental to the rule of law and our constitutional democracy,” the DHA said. The department added that it will continue to fulfil its constitutional obligations, irrespective of whether it was successful in the litigation concerned.
Beyond the operational questions, the disinformation campaign has now drawn in the electoral regulatory framework. The department said the matter will be referred to the Independent Electoral Commission for further action in terms of the newly published Code of Conduct on Countering Disinformation. The Code provides rail guards for the conduct of political parties, candidates and anyone acting on political parties’ or candidates’ instruction, authority or for reward across all election-related communication, whether online or offline, paid or unpaid. It protects legitimate and robust debate.
In July, the DHA had said it would study the judgment handed down in the matter between the Scalabrini Centre and the Minister of Home Affairs, a posture consistent with its position that it opposed the case but accepts the outcome.
The department closed its statement with a call to South Africans to help combat the growing scourge of disinformation and incitement by verifying information before sharing it. Whether the Electoral Commission’s intervention will stem the spread of these claims remains to be seen.