JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwean nationals in South Africa have termed the latest extension of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) a small reprieve for a big crisis.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Thursday announced the further extension of the ZEP to the end of December this year.
The permit was set to expire at the end of June, meaning Zimbabweans who had been in South Africa on the permit would have to find other ways to regularise their stay.
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The minister said there had been an influx of waiver applications this month.
The latest announcement by the Department of Home Affairs is a mere postponement of an inevitable reality that many Zimbabweans will have to face at the end of this year.
Lawyer for the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holders’ Association Advocate Simba Chitando likened Home Affairs’ extension to a small bandage for a deep wound.
“We don’t even believe that Home Affairs would be in a position to resolve the papers that they received, the applications they are claiming they received. We don’t think they can handle them by the end of this year.”
Stella Makande, a nursery school principal who came to South Africa 15 years ago said she was feeling less anxious.
“It definitely buys me more time, not much to do anything but at least that pressure that we had is better than what it was.”
Meanwhile, a Pretoria High Court ruling on the discontinuation of the ZEP is yet to be delivered.