Department of Home Affairs achieves the biggest reduction in South Africa's refugee appeals backlog

The Department of Home Affairs has achieved the biggest reduction in South Africa's refugee appeals backlog in years following a series of reforms at the Refugee Appeals Authority of South Africa (RAASA), reducing the active appeals caseload by more than 12%.

RAASA's active appeals caseload declined from 79 870 cases at the end of 2024 to 70 976 at the end of 2025, representing a reduction of 8 894 active appeals.

From the ringfenced backlog of 133 582 appeals, a total of 19 064 cases were removed during the 2025/26 financial year, representing a 14.2% reduction. Cases were removed through appeal determinations, withdrawals, case finalisations and paper determinations where appellants failed to attend scheduled hearings.

The refugee appeals backlog accumulated over more than two decades, with many unresolved cases dating back to 2008. The progress achieved during the past financial year marks one of the most significant improvements in the performance of South Africa's asylum appeals system in years.

The improvement follows a comprehensive programme of reforms implemented at RAASA to improve efficiency and accelerate the adjudication of appeals. As part of these reforms, RAASA appointed 40 additional advocate members to increase adjudication capacity, increased the number of appeal hearings scheduled each day, introduced targeted adjudication strategies for high-volume and less complex appeals, and strengthened performance management to improve productivity.

RAASA has also expanded collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to improve the quality and consistency of decisions. In addition, the onboarding of further advocates from the Cape Bar is underway to strengthen capacity in the Western Cape, which has the country's second-largest refugee appeals caseload.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, said: "While we still have a way to go, efficiency gains have already produced the biggest reduction in the refugee appeals backlog in years. The onboarding of additional capacity in partnership with the legal fraternity, as well as the recent judgement of the Constitutional Court against repeat applications, puts us on track to make further progress on this decades-old problem."

Minister Schreiber concluded: "Clearing these backlogs and ensuring more efficient processes is in the interest of both applicants and society at large. The reforms at RAASA are helping to restore integrity to the asylum system by expanding adjudication capacity, improving efficiency, and ensuring that genuine claims are resolved more quickly. This is another important step on our reform journey towards building an immigration system that serves South Africa's interests while upholding our constitutional and international obligations."

Media Enquiries:
Carli van Wyk - Spokesperson to the Minister
Cell: 079 166 3899

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