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OpenZimbabwe Engages South Africa Over Looming Deportations After ZEP Permit Expiry
The Zimbabwean government is in talks with South Africa about its citizens who may be deported after their ZEP permits expire.
South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber recently announced that 19,750 undocumented immigrants were deported, costing the government nearly R52.8 million (about US$3 million).
Zimbabwe has the highest number of illegal immigrants in South Africa, with over 7,000 Zimbabweans deported in 2022/2023.
In the Senate on Wednesday, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the government is in talks with South African officials over the planned deportations of undocumented citizens. He said (via NewsDay):
South Africa has its own laws that govern their own immigration. What we can do as a government is to ensure that the needs of our people, wherever possible, are governed by the bilateral relations that we have, that we can assist them.
The issue of Zimbabweans in South Africa is that the South African government has decided that they no longer want to renew the permits that were given after 2008, they said that they wanted to remove them.
So, we wait to see whether the South Africans will be amenable to negotiating to have our people who have been staying there stay but are within the jurisdiction of the South African Government.
We have held negotiations, but it is something that is not very easy to tell the government to say, you must take our citizens and give them work; however, diplomatic and bilateral discussions between our Foreign Affairs ministry and their Department of International Relations are on-going.
ZEP was introduced by the South African Department of Home Affairs to regularize the status of undocumented Zimbabweans living in South Africa.
Under the ZEP, approximately 178,000 Zimbabwean nationals who arrived in South Africa before 2009 could apply for a permit, allowing them to reside and work legally in the country.
Initially valid for four years, the ZEP has been extended, with the new permits now valid until 29 November 2025.
However, holders of the ZEP are not eligible for permanent residence status, and the permits are not renewable.
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