Migration Jurisprudence from the South › South Africa

Somali Association of South Africa v. Limpopo Department of Economic Development

Supreme Court of Appeal, South Africa · South Africa · 2014-09-26 · National court

Citation: [2014] ZASCA 143
Type of case: Constitutional and human rights
Outcome: Decided for the migrant side

Question

Can refugees and asylum seekers be refused licences to run small shops?

What the court decided

Refugees may apply for trading licences; asylum seekers may do so where they cannot otherwise support themselves.

In plain language

Police closed hundreds of small shops run by Somali and Ethiopian traders in Limpopo. The court said refugees may get trading licences, and asylum seekers too when they have no other way to earn a living.

Dalam bahasa sederhana

Polisi menutup ratusan toko kecil milik pedagang Somalia dan Etiopia di Limpopo. Pengadilan menyatakan pengungsi boleh mendapat izin dagang, begitu pula pencari suaka jika tidak punya cara lain mencari nafkah.

Pertanyaan: Bisakah pengungsi dan pencari suaka ditolak izin membuka toko kecil?

What happened afterwards

2014-09-26: Licence refusals set aside.

Sources

Open this decision in the interactive collection (compare, filter, Indonesian view, downloads).

Cite as: Institute for Migrant Rights (2026), Migration Jurisprudence from the South, version 0.1, https://theimr.org/court-decisions/d/za-somali-2014/. This page summarizes a court decision for research and advocacy; it is not legal advice.

For researchers

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The coded variables support statistical analysis in law: cross-national comparison, regression and event-history designs, and law and economics questions such as how recruitment fees, wage protection and limits on changing employer affect migrant workers. The data can be downloaded for replication.

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