On May 12, 2026, South Africa’s Constitutional Court, the nation’s top court, ruled that failed asylum applicants have no express rights to make subsequent applications. In the case Director-General, Department of Home Affairs v. Irankunda, the court held that the Refugees Act “is not reasonably capable of being interpreted to provide a right on the part of a failed asylum seeker to make subsequent applications.”The decision significantly restricts applicants’ access to the asylum system by overturning the previous authority on this issue, the initial 2024 decision in this case by the Supreme Court of Appeal in Irankunda v. Director of Asylum Seeker Management: Department of Home Affairs. That decision favored applicants who had been rejected and sought to reapply based on changed circumstances....