Cape Town - The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has announced a further six-month extension of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP).
The ZEP, extended for six months from December last year, was meant to expire on June 30 and was widely reported as the final extension.
The grace period was to allow for ZEP holders to apply for alternate status in South Africa. On Wednesday, the Department of Home Affairs announced the further extension with the deadline on December 31.
The DHA said the minister had approved thousands of visa and waiver applications from affected Zimbabwean nationals, which was a “significant” increase.
VFS Global receives between 1 000 and 1 5000 applications daily.
The statement read. “The minister took into consideration the said factors, including (to a certain extent) submissions received from the affected Zimbabwean nationals, relevant officials of the DHA, and other interested parties, and decided to issue another Immigration Directive, extending the validity of Zimbabwean exemption permits for a further period of six months, ending on 31 December 2023.”
ZEP holder Rufaro Makwengura, based in Cape Town, said: “l am happy, very happy. Six months is not a lot, but it’s something.”
The permits were used for living, working and studying in South Africa. After they expire, ZEP holders can face detainment and deportation.
In anticipation of the June deadline, Makwengura said some ZEP holders had already left South Africa to, for example, the UK.
“No one l know went (back) to Zimbabwe.”
The ZEPs were the South African government’s temporary response to the large numbers of Zimbabweans entering the country from 2008 due to economic and political precarity in Zimbabwe, placing strain on South Africa’s asylum-seeker system.
According to the “Country Report South Africa: Complementary pathways and the Zimbabwean Dispensation Project”, authored by UCT associate professor Dr Fatima Khan and UCT’s Refugee Rights unit, this will affect 178 000 holders of the temporary protection permit.
Several human rights organisations have approached the court to block the termination of and scrapping of ZEPs.