Ncube versus Home Affairs

2009 07 27 'Mr Ncube wins battle against Home Affairs', LRC

Finally, the protracted legal battle that left Zwelani Ncube without an income, and his pupils without English instruction has come to an end. On 25 June 2009, the Zimbabwean schoolteacher gained an important reprieve before the Eastern Cape High Court in Grahamstown. The court refused to grant the Department of Home Affairs an appeal against the December 2008 judgment which granted Mr Ncube a work permit to teach English in South Africa. The court said that the applicants had no prospect of success. The December judgment had ordered the director general of Home Affairs to issue a work permit to Mr Ncube and for the Minister of Home Affairs to pay Mr Ncube R16 000 for loss of salary and transport costs to the Home Affairs offices in Queenstown incurred over eight months. This was the first time a court ordered compensation in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2003 (PAJA). The matter began after Mr Ncube, previously earning R150 in Bulawayo, was offered a job teaching English at Molteno High School in the Eastern Cape in November 2007, but could not teach as government red tape made it impossible for him to obtain a work permit. Eight months after he was supposed to start working, his application had still not been processed, and when Home Affairs officials finally got around to it, it was denied on ‘spurious grounds'. With the assistance of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), Mr Ncube appealed against the negative decision. He launched an application in the High Court, seeking to either force Home Affairs to grant him the work permit or compel the Minister to decide on his appeal before the end of November 2008. He also sought an order that he be compensated for his loss of earnings and incidental expenses in travelling from Molteno to Queenstown Home Affairs office. However, the LRC was refused leave to appeal against the December 2008 judgment in relation to an order that the public interest firm pay costs ‘de bonis propriis'. That order was particularly disappointing on the heels of the Constitutional Court's recent judgment in the Biowatch case, confirming the principle that those seeking to enforce their constitutional rights against the state should in general not have to bear the costs. In refugee matters especially, such court costs are a serious deterrent to potential suits. Sarah Sephton, director of the LRC in Grahamstown, noted that costs in the Ncube matter have come to about R100 000 so far. The LRC now plans to petition a full bench of the court for leave to appeal, with the hope of resolving the case satisfactorily for Mr Ncube and other refugees like him seeking work in South Africa. http://www.lrc.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1038:2009-07-31-mr-ncube-wins-battle-against-home-affairs-lrc&catid=84:other-news&Itemid=856