South Africa should withdraw from the United Nations refugee protection regimen -- and re-enter with exceptions on refugee rights. That's because courts have established jurisprudence 'unfavourable' to state interests and because of a lack of resources, according to Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Sunday.

The proposal to temporarily exit the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and associated protocols in the new White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection, effectively a government policy statement, was not wholly unexpected, as Daily Maverick reported in August.

The proposal jars South Africa's participation in international law and international treaty obligations, particularly at a time when the country seeks to push for a multipolar world not dominated by the West, and of continued calls for reform in international governance structures like the UN.

But Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Sunday said South Africa had "to press the reset button" to correct its "serious mistake" of having acceded to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and subsequent 1967 protocols without reservations, effectively domestic exceptions to the international regimen, like many other countries.

"It is not surprising that South African courts developed jurisprudence regarding asylum and refugees in the absence of reservations and exceptions ... which is always unfavourable to the interests of the state," Motsoaledi said at a briefing on the white paper.

"The [proposed] refugee protection and immigration legislation must provide for reservations and exceptions... South Africa does not have the resources to grant the socioeconomic rights...