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Cape Town - An immigration law firm is taking Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to court over her department's delays in processing hundreds of temporary residence applications.
The Cape Town firm, Eisenberg and Associates, three of its clients, and immigration consultancy Visa One launched what they called "urgent class action proceedings" in the Western Cape High Court on Friday.
The firm said in a statement on Sunday that the department's decision to centralise the adjudication of applications in Pretoria had created an "untenable situation".
"It appears... that sheer incompetence and lack of capacity is such a widespread problem in the (department) that it can rightly be said to be in a state of crisis," said Eisenberg.
Also cited as respondents were the department's director general and other senior national and provincial officials.
"In the application it is alleged that a steadily worsening bureaucratic backlog of temporary residence permit applications is threatening livelihoods and businesses, professional reputations [and] family dynamics," the firm said.
The delays were also costing South Africa direct foreign investment and the opportunity for visits by world-class academics.
Eisenberg said that of the 383 clients on whose behalf it had applied for temporary permits in the past year, 270 applications remained unresolved, including a number that appeared to have simply vanished.
British businessman Colin Slessor, who invested R4.6m in a game farm in Montagu and his tourism business, had been waiting for a business permit since April 2010.
He had had no feedback from the department and was considering abandoning the investment.
Brian Ganson, professor of conflict resolution at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the United States, had applied in June last year for an exceptional skills permit.
He had been offered a teaching post at the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement at the University of Stellenbosch Business School.
The department claimed his application was favourably adjudicated, but to date it had been unable to explain the whereabouts of his work permit.
Of Visa One's 200 temporary residence applications filed in the past year, 149 had yet to either be approved or rejected by the department.
Of the two firms' combined 583 temporary residence permit applications in the past year, 425 were still outstanding.
"This is a staggering statistic. It means that about two out of every three applications filed with the (department) will either be delayed in their adjudication, or will simply disappear," Eisenberg said.
"And these are not minor delays. Approximately 50% of all undetermined applications have been pending with the (department) for more than three months."
It said the department had 10 court days to file papers opposing the application, which sought an order under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act to compel the department to decide all outstanding applications within a reasonable period.
Dlamini-Zuma's spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
The Cape Town firm, Eisenberg and Associates, three of its clients, and immigration consultancy Visa One launched what they called "urgent class action proceedings" in the Western Cape High Court on Friday.
The firm said in a statement on Sunday that the department's decision to centralise the adjudication of applications in Pretoria had created an "untenable situation".
"It appears... that sheer incompetence and lack of capacity is such a widespread problem in the (department) that it can rightly be said to be in a state of crisis," said Eisenberg.
Also cited as respondents were the department's director general and other senior national and provincial officials.
"In the application it is alleged that a steadily worsening bureaucratic backlog of temporary residence permit applications is threatening livelihoods and businesses, professional reputations [and] family dynamics," the firm said.
The delays were also costing South Africa direct foreign investment and the opportunity for visits by world-class academics.
Eisenberg said that of the 383 clients on whose behalf it had applied for temporary permits in the past year, 270 applications remained unresolved, including a number that appeared to have simply vanished.
British businessman Colin Slessor, who invested R4.6m in a game farm in Montagu and his tourism business, had been waiting for a business permit since April 2010.
He had had no feedback from the department and was considering abandoning the investment.
Brian Ganson, professor of conflict resolution at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the United States, had applied in June last year for an exceptional skills permit.
He had been offered a teaching post at the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement at the University of Stellenbosch Business School.
The department claimed his application was favourably adjudicated, but to date it had been unable to explain the whereabouts of his work permit.
Of Visa One's 200 temporary residence applications filed in the past year, 149 had yet to either be approved or rejected by the department.
Of the two firms' combined 583 temporary residence permit applications in the past year, 425 were still outstanding.
"This is a staggering statistic. It means that about two out of every three applications filed with the (department) will either be delayed in their adjudication, or will simply disappear," Eisenberg said.
"And these are not minor delays. Approximately 50% of all undetermined applications have been pending with the (department) for more than three months."
It said the department had 10 court days to file papers opposing the application, which sought an order under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act to compel the department to decide all outstanding applications within a reasonable period.
Dlamini-Zuma's spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
