Home Affairs Minister to be charged with contempt by Western Cape High Court
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The Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, may face contempt proceedings next year for non-compliance with a court order to review the prohibited status of a foreign worker. The Western Cape High Court declared last week that Minister Motsoaledi had missed the court-imposed deadline of November 30 to decide on the prohibited status.
In October 2023, the court instructed the minister to adjudicate an application by a foreign national known as TC, who had been labeled a prohibited person by home affairs due to a fraudulent work permit. Interestingly, TC himself had alerted the department about the fraudulent permit in 2016, which had been acquired by an unknown third party. Despite his cooperation, home affairs barred TC from entering the country.
TC subsequently applied, under the Immigration Act, to be declared a non-prohibited person, allowing him and his family to continue residing and working in South Africa despite the initial fraudulent entry. Home Affairs Director-General Tommy Makhode rejected the application in 2021, and the following year, TC sought Minister Motsoaledi’s review of the decision, receiving no response a year later.
In September, TC approached the high court to compel a decision from Minister Motsoaledi. An agreement was reached on the hearing date that the minister would make a decision within 40 days, an agreement formalized as a court order in October. However, TC claims that his lawyers’ correspondence with home affairs officials has gone unanswered.
Judge James Lekhuleni, in response to TC’s urgent return to court, stated that the bureaucratic inefficiency within the department violated TC’s family rights and rejected the department’s argument that the minister was unaware of the matter’s urgency. Judge Lekhuleni emphasized, “There can be no doubt that the minister is in contempt of court.” Despite not filing a contempt of court application, TC was granted the right to bring such an application next year if Minister Motsoaledi fails to address the matter within 10 days.
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