Dear Leo Amos Schreiber
Given the social unrest taking place outside Refugee Reception Offices, I humbly request that there be a moratorium on asylum at least until the white paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugees has been legislated.
If I was a Refugee Status Determination Officer (RSDO), I would deny refugee status to all current applicants. My humane reasoning would be that if asylum seekers present themselves seeking safety in South Africa, there is no safety to be had if there are mobs right outside the Refugee Reception Office who are hostile about the reception of those refugees. For the safety of the said refugees, I would refuse all applications and encourage applicants to proceed to safer countries. I am alarmed that asylum seekers proceed with their applications in the face of danger, right then and there where they are lining up to apply. If I was an asylum seeker in that situation I would flee from the mobs.
South Africa has the esteemed Navi Pillay who is the holder of the Nobel Peace Prize. I request the Foreign Affairs Ministry to engage her. My humble posture is that entertaining asylum for foreign nationals is presently untenable. Unleashing the army on South African nationals in order to curb the unrest is not to be encouraged. My submission is that the unrest and hostility must be broadcasted to potential asylum seekers. For humanitarian reasons asylum seekers must know to keep away from South Africa. We do not want to invite them to potential or imminent harm. Navi Pillay has been the custodian of refugee rights and interests during her spell as a High Commissioner at the UNHCR. She can hopefully lend us her voice to express to foreign nationals that, at present, South Africa is not a hospitable environment for refugees and asylum seekers. The exercise I suggest will buy the authorities ample opportunity to engage us, regular folks, to understand and appreciate asylum as a concept and South Africa's position in the grand scheme of things.