He came to South Africa alone when he was only 12 and lived on the streets for more than two years. Today he is 20 and close to qualifying as a chef.

But Goodluck Juma is now facing the threat of immediate deportation and has had to go to court to get an interdict against the Department of Home Affairs to keep himself from being arrested and sent back to Tanzania, banishing the chance of completing his training.

Juma, with the assistance of Durban's Legal Resource Centre, secured the court order from Judge Graham Lopes yesterday and can remain in the country until his application for residence is finalised.

In his affidavit before the Durban High Court, Juma said he arrived in the country in 2003 to find work to support his poverty-stricken family in Dar es Salaam.

He lived on the streets in Albert Park until 2005 when he was put in a place of safety and thereafter at St Martin's Children's Home.

He completed Grade 8 and, in 2008, was selected to study catering at the Ikusasa School of Cooking - an institution accredited with the International Hotel School in London and which falls under the social responsibility programme of the Chaine Des Rotisseurs Foundation Trust.

Its sponsors include Southern Sun and it aims to provide accredited training and job placements to disadvantaged children.

"I am among the top students in the my class and my instructors say I have great promise," Juma said. "I am due to graduate in December and have got a job at one of the hotels in the Three Cities Group."

Juma had applied for and was refused refugee status and was given only 30 days to remain in South Africa or face deportation, which would deprive him of finishing his studies and of becoming a chef "to support myself and my family".

He argues that, under the Immigration Act, the minister can grant a foreigner permanent residence "under special circumstances".

"I believe that I qualify," he said.

"The opportunity to acquire skills in culinary arts is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people like myself.

"I believe that in granting me this chance (to remain in the country), it will espouse the values of ubuntu, in allowing a child from a foreign country to benefit from social responsibility initiatives in South Africa."

Juma was supported in his application by the home and by Soobromoney Pillay, the international director of the foundation and his sponsor.

By Tania Broughton