Refugees sue Home Affairs

In what could be a landmark case, 19 Ethiopian men have taken Minister of Home Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to court, claiming her department illegally arrested them.

In court papers filed in the Johannesburg High Court, the men claim that the Department of Foreign Affairs acted unlawfully by arresting them hours after they arrived in the city on June 26 and by refusing them access to apply for asylum.

The men, all supporters of Ethiopia's opposition party, the Oromo Liberation Front, fled their country in May last year because of political persecution.

They detail their painstaking journey to South Africa following a year-long trek on foot through countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.

The men, who are being detained at the Lindela centre, want the court to interdict Dlamini-Zuma, her director-general, Mkhuseli Apleni, and security company Bosasa, which runs the centre, from deporting them back to their country.

"We are currently detained unlawfully and threatened with deportation. We have suffered and continue to suffer prejudice," they said in a collective affidavit.

"We are subject to ongoing violations of our rights to human dignity, freedom of movement and rights against arbitrary detention."

The men said they were unfamiliar with South African law and did not know they could have applied for protection at the border.

"We are now advised that failure to apply for protection at the border does not prevent us from applying for asylum."

Two days after their arrest, an attorney from Lawyers for Human Rights wrote to the department to demand their immediate release and the opportunity to apply for asylum.

The department did not reply.

Setting out the events that led to them seeking refuge in South Africa, the men state that they fled their home country after being pursued, threatened and, in some cases, severely injured by the police and members of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front. They entered the country through the Mozambique-South Africa border exactly a year after they had left Ethiopia.

In Kenya and Tanzania, the group worked on farms to support themselves to continue their journey to South Africa.

The group wants the court to grant them the right to apply for asylum and order Dlamini-Zuma to pay for their legal costs.

"Deportation to Ethiopia would place our lives and security at risk and violate our rights under the Refugee Act and would contravene South Africa's international law obligations of non-refoulement," they state in their court papers.

Nicola Whittaker, who represents the men, refused to comment, saying the case was "sensitive".

"I am happy to confirm that I am representing the applicants. Unfortunately, I am not going to discuss the merits with you at this stage."

Home Affairs deputy director-general Jackie Mackay said she could not comment on a matter that was sub judice.