Some Zimbabweans who applied last year are still waiting as September
deadline looms for ZEP permits
Morgan (surname withheld) applied on 7 December 2017 for a Zimbabwe
Exemption Permit. She has been tracking her application online. “Up to
now nothing new, almost nine months after submission,” she said.
Photo: Brent Meersman
Some Zimbabweans who have applied for their Zimbabwe Exemption Permits
(ZEP) are anxious about the slow progress processing their permits.
Without a valid permit to show they find their bank accounts frozen,
face difficulties registering their children at educational
institutions and even lose their jobs.
The ZEP replaces the ZSP (Zimbabwean Special Permit) which expired in
December 2017. Home Affairs issued a circular to banks, employers and
learning institutions in December that as long as people could show
proof of application for the ZEP they should continue to receive
services while their application is being adjudicated. However,
GroundUp is aware of a number of cases where banks, schools and
employers have not heeded this advisory.
Applications for the ZEP opened on 15 September 2017 and the closing
date (extended twice) was 15 February 2018.
On 31 January, Home Affairs announced that the ZEP process, including
finalising adjudications and issuing all new permits, would be
completed by the end of September 2018.
But on 6 September, Home Affairs media manager David Hlabane said in
an email response to GroundUp that the department is currently
adjudicating applications that were received before the closing date
and the process should be completed around October.
GroundUp has been trying every day since Monday to get an answer from
Home Affairs as to how many applications have been successfully
processed, but without success.
Morgan (surname withheld) applied on 7 December 2017. She has been
tracking her application online. “Up to now nothing new, almost nine
months after submission,” she said.
Cindy (surname withheld) told GroundUp in an email: “I submitted

my
paperwork in January and still nothing.” She says she was suspended
from work six weeks ago. Her employer wants her to show a valid
permit. She did provide proof of application and showed the receipt,
but she says her employer wasn’t satisfied.
A Zimbabwean man, who also wished to remain anonymous, said he
submitted a ZEP study permit for his daughter in February but he only
got an SMS notification that his daughter’s application was received
by Home Affairs on 24 August. He said his Capitec bank account has
been frozen.
Helen (surname withheld) is worried that she may not get her wages
this week after FNB froze her account in December last year. Her
employer has been paying her in cash but says the company cannot
continue to do that.
The ZEP Dispensation Forum on Facebook is encouraging Zimbabweans not
to merely check online but to actually visit the offices of Visa
Facilitation Centre (VFS), the company that processes the permits for
Home Affairs. The page has posts from people who applied in November
2017 and have not yet received their ZEPs and from people who have
been struggling without documentation.
Most Zimbabweans in South Africa have been uncertain about their
future in the country since the inception of the Dispensation of
Zimbabwean Permit (DZP) in 2010. About 245,000 DZPs were issued. It
was valid for four years and was supposed to be non-renewable. It was
later extended to three years and renamed the ZSP in 2014. Just under
200,000 ZSP permits were issued. Again in December 2016, Home Affairs
said there would be no renewal of the ZSP, but it created the ZEP in
2017, valid for four years.
On the ZEP it states that the document “doesn’t allow the holder to
apply for permanent residence irrespective of the period of stay in
South Africa. ZEP will not be renewable and the holder cannot change
conditions of the permit in SA”. V.2461

All 30 bank branches offering Smart ID cards and passport renewals Hanno Labuschagne14 May 2024 All 30 bank branches offering Smart ID cards and passport renewals Over half the bank branches that support Smart ID card issuing and passport renewals are in Gauteng. In addition, more than 83% of the branches are in the three most populous provinces in South Africa, while only about 56.3% of the country’s population lives in these provinces. Many people will have to travel far to use one of these branches instead of a regular, problem-ridden Home Affairs office to get a new ID or passport. Thirty bank branches support the eHomeAffairs system introduced by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) in 2016. V.5355
Click here for full article

The Constitutional Court recently ruled that children born in South Africa to foreign parents qualify for South African citizenship in terms of Section 2 of the South African Citizenship Act. That is, if you were born in South Africa to foreign parents who have not been admitted as permanent residents, you qualify to apply for South African citizenship upon becoming a major if your birth was registered and if you have lived here all your life, irrespective of the date of your birth and you have not accepted the nationality of another country. The judgment also reduced the term for applying for citizenship by holders of permanent residence from 5 years to 10 years by declaring Regulation 3(2)(a) of the Citizenship Act Regulations unconstitutional. V.5357
Click here for full article

Turkey Visa for South African Citizens In 2013, the e Visa program was launched by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, enabling citizens of more than 100 countries, such as South Africa, to request a Turkish visa through the internet. Therefore, South African tourists favor Turkey as a destination. South African citizens are no longer required to visit the Turkish embassy in person as they can now conveniently apply for their e-visa online. V.5348
Click here for full article

The Australian High Court passed a judgement on Friday that dismissed an Iranian asylum seeker’s plea to be released from immigration detention and enter the country. The Iranian asylum seeker, applicant ASF-17, applied to the Federal Court of Australia for a writ of habeas corpus in 2023 on the basis that his continuing detention exceeded the constitutional limitation identified in the orders of NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs released the week prior. The applicant has been refusing to cooperate with the process of being removed from Australia to Iran since 2018, arguing that he would be at risk of persecution for his sexual orientation and religious beliefs. V.5349
Click here for full article

Home Affairs officials are “selling South Africa to foreign nationals” out of greed, says Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. In an exclusive interview with The Witness on Thursday, Motsoaledi said 182 department officials were dismissed for fraud and corruption between 2018 and 2024. Among those dismissed was a chief director who was implicated in assisting a foreign national in getting a permanent residence permit in the country, at a fee. Those who bear the brunt of the corruption are mostly drug addicts, whose personal information is used by Home Affairs officials to create fake IDs and passports for foreigners. V.5350
Click here for full article

Visa waivers for travellers from Kenya and Ghana have catalysed a remarkable 15.4% increase in international tourist numbers to South Africa. File picture: Tracey Adams/ Independent Newspapers South Africa`s tourism sector is experiencing a renaissance fuelled by the recent removal of visa requirements for travellers from select African countries. The latest data from Statistics South Africa showed a remarkable surge in international arrivals, signalling a promising trajectory for the industry. V.5354
Click here for full article

The City of Cape Town has called on the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to address the visa system crisis and confusion over remote work visas. James Vos, the City’s Mayco member for economic growth, says the department ‘shot itself in the foot’ with the premature gazetting and withdrawal of regulations. ‘On 28 March, the DHA published the amended immigration regulations. This, however, was a day before the closing date of the public comment period. And then, on 12 April, the minister issued a notice withdrawing the 28 March amendments.’ As reported by BusinessTech, the regulations replaced the critical skills list with a new points-based system and introduced the remote work visa category. V.5345
Click here for full article

The City of Cape Town has slammed the Department of Home Affairs for creating confusion and continuing to score “infuriating” own goals in launching remote work visas in the country. Mayoral committee member for economic growth, James Vos, said that the last month has seen the department shoot itself in the foot with the premature gazetting and subsequent withdrawal of regulations that would create this category of visa. “On 28 March, the DHA published the amended immigration regulations. This, however, was a day before the closing date of the public comment period. And then, on 12 April, the minister issued a notice withdrawing the 28 March amendments,” Vos said. V.5346
Click here for full article

Recently settled case in the Labour Court demonstrated that excluding a job applicant because of their criminal record is only lawful when the requirements of that job explicitly outline and justify the need for a clean criminal record. However, legal experts say that the court’s decision ultimately delinked trust and honesty from the inherent requirements of a job, which was “concerning.” ENS Africa’s Nils Braatvedt, Kim Vova, and Lutho Zono examined the background, outcome, and subsequent analysis of the recent court ruling in O’Connor v LexisNexis. V.5347
Click here for full article

The City of Cape Town has slammed the Department of Home Affairs for creating confusion and continuing to score “infuriating” own goals in launching remote work visas in the country. Mayoral committee member for economic growth, James Vos, said that the last month has seen the department shoot itself in the foot with the premature gazetting-and subsequent withdrawal-of regulations that would create this category of visa. V.5343
Click here for full article