The Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, and Director-General, Livhuwani Makhode, have agreed to pay part of the legal costs for Lawyers for Human Rights from their own pockets.
This comes after the Constitutional Court on Monday slapped both Motsoaledi and Makhode with personal cost orders in the case involving the rights of undocumented immigrants.
The decision follows Motsoaledi and his department’s failure to revise the Immigration Act in the past six years.
In a statement issued by the department, Motsoaledi said the fees would only be paid as soon as the taxed bill of costs was presented by Lawyers for Human Rights.
He welcomed the finding by the Constitutional Court that he was in the dark about the litigation and the shoddy manner in which it was conducted by the officials and legal representatives.
“The minister has never come across a situation in which officials and legal representatives decide to go to court in his name without his knowledge and any consultation with him.
“As the court found, these were indeed lapses of extraordinary range and gravity,” the statement read.
According to the statement, the minister accepted that he was responsible for the fulfilment of the objectives of the department as well as the actions or failures of all officials serving under him.
He also accepted that his duty was to ensure that the court orders were complied with and that officials under him did not repeat the “comedy of errors” and gross negligence seen in this

case.
“The minister will take steps, as he has done before, to ensure an effective supervisory role. The judgment put paid to an erroneous belief that the executive authority should play no role in the everyday management of the affairs of the department.
“To this end, corrective measures will be taken against all officials involved in this saga,” the statement continued.
However, Motsoaledi said that in fulfilment of his Constitutional responsibilities, he would ensure that the fees in the amount of R222,862.60 paid to Mike Bofilatos SC were recovered without any further delay.
He said the legal representatives led by Bofilatos failed in their professional duties by proceeding with litigation without the minister’s knowledge.
Initially, the court order found that sections 34.1(b) and (d) of the Immigration Act were unlawful and unconstitutional. The sections permitted the administrative detention of undocumented foreigners for deportation.
As ordered by the court, the detention period can be extended from 30 days to 90 days or up to 120 days.
However, in 2016, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) argued that immigrants were being detained for more than 120 days or longer without trial.
The court order, which was issued in 2017, gave the department and Parliament 24 months to amend the legislation and suspended the invalidity for that period. To date, nothing has changed. V.5057

Australia’s plan to cap the number of new international students to 270,000 starting in 2025 has sparked widespread concern within the education sector. However, the proposal, which still needs parliamentary approval, is unlikely to have a significant impact on students from African countries planning to study in Australia. The National Planning Level (NPL) for 2025, which includes the limit on the number of international student enrolments, aims to reduce overall migration to pre-pandemic levels. V.5595
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Bethuel Ngobeni, Dumisa Moyo, Nhlanhla Magwaca, Moseki Sechele, Thabo Sechele and Khudzai Mashaya appear in court to face illicit gold mining charges. Image: Thapelo Morebudi An investigation into illicit gold mining has uncovered how one of the accused obtained a fraudulent identity document, 12 years after arriving in SA. V.5594
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• Lesotho has rekindled moves to implement localisation rules for certain types of businesses dominated by foreigners. • Indians, Chinese and South Africans dominate the 47 reserved businesses. • SA firms will be under pressure to use local distributors, and not contract Basotho labour via SA-based agents. V.5587
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Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. CAPE TOWN - Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that long queues, off-line systems, and paper-based applications at department offices would soon be a thing of the past. Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. V.5588
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‘There are various pathways and provisions in the law that recognise that people should not be stateless, and we are failing to ensure that these people have papers,’ says Global Movement Against Statelessness’ Christy Chitengu. Christy Chitengu was born in South Africa and regards herself as a South African, despite her parents being Zimbabwean. V.5589
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Inspection at workplaces set to increase Newly appointed home affairs minister Leon Schreiber will increase inspections at restaurants, spaza shops, farms and mines to heighten the crackdown on undocumented workers in these industries. Schreiber said while SA welcomes those who contribute to the country legally through skills, investments and as tourists, it needed to do more to combat illegal immigration. V.5592
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CAPE TOWN - Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber says since March, his department already reported 109 cases of document fraud to its counter corruption unit. Three officials have been convicted and sentenced during this same period. V.5593
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Key Takeaways • As of August 28, Canada has banned temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country. • The policy`s early termination is part of IRCC`s efforts to manage the influx of temporary residents and combat immigration fraud. • Starting September 26, 2024, Canada will cut the number of temporary foreign workers by about 65,000. Canada has recently launched a new policy that prohibits temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country, a decision that significantly impacts their ability to work and stay in Canada. V.5583
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The United Kingdom has long been a favoured destination for South Africans seeking work or residency, thanks to shared language, time zones, and historical ties. However, according to JP Breytenbach from Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants, the profile of South African migrants is changing. “There is a significant increase in business migration, with companies aiming to expand into the UK as a gateway to Europe or the US,” he shared in an interview with Biznews. Many of these South Africans businesses feel they have reached a ceiling in their local markets or are tech entrepreneurs who believe their products are not yet viable in South Africa. This year, new UK immigration rules are set to take effect as the country seeks to limit net migration. V.5584
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Applicants who prefer hard copies of ZEP waiver letters will still be able to collect them at branches. Leon Schreiber, Minister of Home Affairs, during the swearing-in ceremony of the new national executive members at Cape Town International Convention Centre on 3 July, 2024 in Cape Town. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has announced that the first batch of Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) waiver applications has been processed. ZEP holders will no longer need to go to Home Affairs branches to find out the outcome of their applications. The department will be sending them out digitally. V.5585
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