SA court 'saves' 3 DRC orphans

Now aged 15, 13 and 10, the girls fled to South Africa with their father and older sister in 2003, two years after their mother died.

Persecution 'not well founded'

When their father died a year later, their older sister took care of them. When she disappeared, they were placed in foster care.


Their subsequent application for asylum was dismissed on the grounds that their fear of persecution was not well founded, as the DRC was no longer at war and their home town of Lubumbashi was "an island of tranquillity".

An appeal with the help of the Wits Law Clinic was dismissed in November 2005. They were put in a place of safety in January 2006 after their foster mother's welfare grant was terminated because the girls were foreigners.

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