Over 178 000 Zimbabweans who are holders of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) have exactly a month to find alternative ways to regularise their stay in South Africa.
The ZEP is set to expire on 30 June 2023 when the grace period announced by the South African government to allow the holders to comply with the country’s immigration laws lapses.
More than 178 000 Zimbabwean nationals have been living, working and attending school in South Africa using the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit.
South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs discontinued the permit after it was first issued over a decade ago but three civil rights groups have challenged this move in the Pretoria High Court.
If the Pretoria High Court rules in favour of the Department of Home Affairs, thousands of Zimbabweans will be deported from South Africa.
<a href="https://ewn.co.za/2023/06/01/zep-zimbabweans-in-sa-have-a-month-to-find-alternative-ways-to-regularise-stay">EWN</a> reported that until recently, the Department of Home Affairs has been requiring Zimbabweans to apply for alternative permits such as the spousal or work permit but the process has been complicated.
Many who have opted for the work permit have had to travel back to Zimbabwe to start their application.
Zimbabweans have also been required to apply with the Department of Labour for exemptions if their skills are not considered scarce.
The Pretoria High Court reserved its ruling in the battle between Home Affairs and civil groups but time is running out for thousands of Zimbabweans who may soon find themselves as illegal migrants in South Africa.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

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Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holders Left With One Month To Regularise Stay In SA

Lawyers representing South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Wednesday said no rights will be taken away when the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) system comes to an end in June, reported <a href="https://www.groundup.org.za/article/zep-no-rights-were-taken-away-home-affairs-lawyers-tell-court/">GroundUp</a>.
The Pretoria High Court is hearing an application by the Helen Suzman Foundation and the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa to have the minister set aside the decision.
They are seeking the setting aside of the minister’s decision to terminate the ZEP system on 30 June 2023.
Advocate Ismail Jamie, counsel for the Minister of Home Affairs, told a full bench of the Pretoria High Court that there was no decision to terminate the ZEP system.
Rather, ZEP holders were given until June 2023 to regularise their stay in South Africa by applying for other visas or asking to be exempt from the expiration of the ZEP. 
Jamie said rights that were temporarily conferred in the first place had been allowed to lapse through the passage of time. He said:
<blockquote>
Just as the government was free to adopt (a visa exemption) policy in respect of Zimbabweans as it relates to the conditions prevailing in that country in 2008 and 2009, it is free to change that policy in 2023.
</blockquote>
Jamie said that consultation with ZEP holders will take place when ZEP holders apply for alternative visas or waivers.
Advocate Steven Budlender, for the Helen Suzman Foundation, argued that there was no consultation with affected parties either before or after the decision to terminate the ZEP system.
Jamie argued that it would be impractical to expect the government to have consulted 178 000 ZEP holders.
Budlender said Motsoaledi’s claim that it was impractical to get the opinions of 178 000 people as to how it would impact them was irrational, as this was standard procedure whenever legislation or policy is proposed by the government.
Around 2008, thousands of Zimbabweans crossed the border into South Africa seeking better economic opportunities after the Zimbabwean economy had virtually collapsed.
South Africa then introduced the Dispensation of Zimbabwean Permit (DZP) to legalise Zimbabweans living and working in the country in 2009.
In 2014, the DZP was renamed the Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP). The name changed again three years later to Zimbabwe Exemption Permit or ZEP.
In September 2022, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs extended the permit which was due to expire on December 31, for a further six months to June 30, 2023.
More: <a href="https://zero.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

SA Home Affairs Minister's Decision On ZEP Does Not Take Away Their Rights - Lawyers

Advocate Steven Budlender, who is representing the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) in the Pretoria High Court, has argued that the decision by South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to terminate the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) was irrational and procedurally unfair.
HSF is seeking a declaration that the Minister’s decision is unconstitutional, unlawful, and invalid and that it be set aside as well as a temporary order directing that, reported <a href="https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/home-affairs-decision-to-terminate-zimbabwean-exemption-permit-is-invalid/">SABC News</a>.
Budlender on Tuesday argued that Motsoaledi should reconsider the decision to terminate the ZEP, following the proper process. He said:
<blockquote>
As we argue in our heads and in what follows, procedural rationality under the principle of legality required that ZEP holders and the public be afforded a hearing.
The foundation also argued that the decision was taken without the minister considering the impact it would have on the lives of ZEP holders, their children, and the broader public.
The inevitable effect of the minister’s decision is that, on 30 June 2023, tens of thousands of ZEP holders will be left undocumented.
This is due to the legal and practical barriers to securing alternative visas and permits.
… My client does not suggest and does not ask this court to find that the Minister may never terminate the ZEP programme.
That is not my client’s case and that is not the submission I make, but my client does say and I do submit that because any termination has such profound consequences in order to be valid, it must firstly, follow a fair and procedurally rational consultation process.
Secondly, be consistent with fundamental constitutional rights enshrined in our constitution and thirdly, be based on lawful, rational and reasonable grounds.
</blockquote>
The application by the Helen Suzman Foundation has been opposed.
Around 2008, thousands of Zimbabweans crossed the border into South Africa seeking better economic opportunities after the Zimbabwean economy had virtually collapsed.
South Africa then introduced the Dispensation of Zimbabwean Permit (DZP) to legalise Zimbabweans living and working in the country in 2009.
In 2014, the DZP was renamed to the Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP). The name changed again three years later to Zimbabwe Exemption Permit or ZEP.
In September 2022, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs extended the permit which was due to expire on December 31, for a further six months to June 30, 2023.
South Africa allowed ZEP holders with critical skills to apply for visas to remain in the country.
According to the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holders Association (ZEPHA), the number of permit holders is about 160 000, but each person has an average of three to four dependents.
This means that close to one million Zimbabweans will be negatively affected by South Africa’s decision to discontinue the ZEP scheme.
More: <a href="https://zero.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

"SA Decision To Terminate Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Is Invalid"

The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF)’s legal team on Tuesday, 11 April 2023 said terminating the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) scheme without proper public consultation is unlawful.
The Pretoria High Court is currently hearing a challenge that the HSF brought against the termination of the special permit for Zimbabweans by South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs.
<a href="https://ewn.co.za/2023/04/11/terminating-zep-without-proper-public-consultation-unlawful-hsf-tells-court">Eye Witness News</a> reported that in his opening address, Advocate Steven Budlender, for the foundation, said the termination of the ZEP programme will turn upside down the lives of people who had been in South Africa legally for several years.
Budlender argued that neither ZEP holders nor South Africans at large were given the chance to express their thoughts before the decision was taken. He said:
<blockquote>
We have a decision that is going to fundamentally change people’s lives and it’s a decision that was taken without any attempt to hear them first – a common cause.
It’s a decision that the minister has told these people repeatedly he will not reconsider.
… In a constitutional dispensation can a minister say to people who’ve been here 13 years lawfully: ‘I’m going to decide your fate, I’m going to put in place a decision which is going to decide your fate and which requires you effectively to leave the country’ – without hearing them first?
And we say, no. We say if the Constitution means anything, and if PAJA (Promotion of Administrative Justice Act) means anything and if the principle of legality means anything that could never be a proper view.
</blockquote>
Around 2008, thousands of Zimbabweans crossed the border into South Africa seeking better economic opportunities after the Zimbabwean economy had virtually collapsed.
South Africa then introduced the Dispensation of Zimbabwean Permit (DZP) to legalise Zimbabweans living and working in the country in 2009.
In 2014, the DZP was renamed to the Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP). The name changed again three years later to Zimbabwe Exemption Permit or ZEP.
In September 2022, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs extended the permit which was due to expire on December 31, for a further six months to June 30, 2023.
South Africa allowed ZEP holders with critical skills to apply for visas to remain in the country.
According to the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holders Association (ZEPHA), the number of permit holders is about 160 000, but each person has an average of three to four dependents.
This means that close to one million Zimbabweans will be negatively affected by South Africa’s decision to discontinue the ZEP scheme.
More: <a href="https://zero.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Terminating ZEP Without Proper Public Consultation Unlawful, South African NGO Tells Court

The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria is this week expected to hear arguments challenging South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs’ decision to terminate the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) scheme.
The Helen Suzman Foundation, Zimbabwean Immigration Federation, African Amity and 29 others approached the courts seeking to have the termination of the permits declared unlawful.
In 2022, SA’s Department of Home Affairs announced that it would not renew the special dispensation for a fourth time since its inception in 2009.
More than 170 000 Zimbabweans are holders of the special permits which give them legal protection to live, work and study in South Africa.
However, the dispensation ends on 30 June 2023 and tens of thousands of ZEP holders are now facing an uncertain future.
South Africa allowed ZEP holders with critical skills to apply for visas to remain in the country.
The hearing in the case is expected to take place virtually until Friday.
More: <a href="https://zero.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

SA Court To Hear Arguments Challenging Termination Of Zimbabwe Special Permits

South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that expired Zimbabwean exemption permit (ZEP) holders who do not apply to be in the country legally will be punished if they remain in SA after the grace period runs out.
Motsoaledi said this on Tuesday when he appeared in parliament to provide an update on the ZEP process underway. He said:
<blockquote>
The ball is in their court, not in the government’s court. We will deal with them the same way we deal with someone who is in the country illegally and overstayed. There is punishment for that.
</blockquote>
Motsoaledi explained that there are two applications the Department of Home Affairs is expecting from expired Zimbabwean exemption permit (ZEP) holders. He said:
<blockquote>
There are two applications we are expecting from Zimbabweans, namely the visa in terms of the Immigration Act and an application for a waiver where an applicant may say these are their circumstances and they ask for a waiver from what the government has directed them to do.
We realised that work needed experts because it is a special dispensation, so I appointed a team of six, including three officials who were dealing with the reviewing of permits and three senior councils from the private sector.
They have had several meetings to outline how the work is going to be done so there is a common understanding and they follow similar standards when they start working.
</blockquote>
Motsoaledi insisted that the South African government was not targetting Zimbabweans. He said:
<blockquote>
I know people say we are only targeting Zimbabweans, but the Basotho permit is expiring at the end of December 2023.
The Zimbabwean permits expired in December 2021. This is because they were issued at different times.
</blockquote>
| <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2022-09-13-expired-zim-exemption-permit-holders-who-dont-apply-for-legal-status-will-be-punished-says-motsoaledi/">TimesLIVE</a>

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