The Covid-19 pandemic and socio-economic protection for refugees in South Africa

Abstract This paper examines the protection of the socio-economic rights and benefits in view of the relief measures taken to alleviate the economic distress caused by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Similar to South African counterparts, refugees and asylum seekers looked up to the South African government for their protection (known as ‘the surrogate national protection’) because they could not turn to their home governments from which they fled for national protection. It considers the divergence between the principles of refugee protection and citizenship, to underline that the South African government has the responsibility to protect refugees and asylum seekers. Drawing upon these principles, the paper analyses the Covid-19 relief packages from the perspectives of the spirits, purport, and objects of the Refugees Act 130 of 1998. In particular, it critically illustrates the conflicted and ambivalent attitudes of the South African government towards the implementation of surrogate national protection in real and actual situations.