The Department of Home Affairs has gazetted an official extension of existing Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEPs) to November 2025.In the gazette, DHA minister Leon Schreiber said the extension had been granted to give him the time needed to address the Gauteng High Courts requirements.As such, existing ZEPs will remain valid for the next twelve months. No holder of a ZEP may be arrested, ordered to depart or be detained for purposes of deportation or deported in terms of section 34 of the Immigration Act for any reason related to him or her not having any valid exemption certificate, the department said.Further to this, a holder of an exemption certificate may be allowed to enter into or depart from the Republic of South Africa provided that they comply with all other requirements for entry into and departure.The gazette comes at the last minute, as countless holders of ZEPs faced uncertainty this week about whether they could stay in the country.Marisa Jacobs, Managing Director at Xpatweb, said that there are an estimated 178,000 ZEP-holders in South Africa who had found themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea after former minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, decided in 2022 to terminate the ZEP. Several court cases followed, and in June 2023, the High Court in Pretoria confirmed that the termination of the ZEP was indeed unlawful, and a subsequent appeal of the decision was refused by the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.Without the latest extension, legal experts warned that ZEP-holders may have been at risk of being declared undesirable if they stayed in South Africa after the 29 November 2024 deadline passed.ZEP-holders are entitled to work, seek employment and conduct business in South Africa during the validity of the exemption permit. A holder of the exemption permit is allowed freedom of movement in and out of South Africa.On 29 August this year, new DHA minister Schreiber instituted a new rule to deliver the outcomes of visa waiver applications digitally via email to applicants. In the first phase of the rollout, the outcome of waiver applications for ZEPs will be sent digitally.Over time, this digital-first approach will be extended to other applicants in the visa and permit regime. Starting today with ZEP holders and later, all applicants will conveniently receive digital waiver letters, in PDF format, through email, the DHA said.By the end of August, the DHA had processed more than 60,000 outstanding ZEP waiver applications, many of which dated back to 2022.Jacobs noted that ZEP-holders who applied for a waiver to progress to a General Work visa and are awaiting the applications processing can proceed with their submission for a General Work visa as soon as the waiver has been processed. The new Points-based system does not apply in these instances.

The man was under an internal investigation by the department for irregular issuance and approval of permits.A former adjudicator in the permit section of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has been found guilty of corruption.Phanuel Mokomo appeared before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday, where the judgment was handed downThe conviction comes after Mokomo offered an internal investigator R10,000 bribe to stop him from conducting a prove into his corrupt activities.InvestigationsGauteng Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale, said Mokomo was under an internal investigation by the department for irregular issuance and approval of permits.Mogale said after offering the bribe, the matter was brought to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks, in September 2018. An entrapment operation was authorised and executed in terms of Section 252A of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977. The operation culminated in Mokomo being caught in the act of offering the R10,000 gratification to the internal investigator of the DHA. He was arrested and charged with corruption.After numerous court appearances, Mokomo was found guilty of corruption on 27 November 2024.Conviction Mogale said the case has been postponed to 18 February 2025 for sentencing.This conviction underscores the DPCs commitment to combating corruption, particularly in cases that threaten the integrity of public institutions such as the Department of Home Affairs.The successful entrapment and prosecution demonstrate the importance of inter-agency collaboration in holding public officials accountable, Mogale said.Mogale said the DPCI remains steadfast in its mission to root out corruption and ensure the integrity of public service delivery.Home affairs officials firedLast week, the Department of Home Affairs dismissed what it called 18 crooked officials, effective immediately, for a range of offences including fraud, corruption and sexual harassment.The department said a further four officials were issued with final written warnings  two of which carry a one and three months salary suspension, respectively.Home Affairs spokesperson Duwayne Esau said another two officials received written warnings.Esau said the dismissals and disciplinary action follow the conclusion of all mandated human resources and appeals by the department.

People were waiting in long lines outside the VFS Global office in Cape Town on Thursday. On Friday morning, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber extended the validity of the original Zimbabwe Exemption Permit to November 2025.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber extended the validity of the original Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) to 28 November 2025.
•    The validity of the original ZEP was meant to end on Friday, 29 November 2024.
•    This caused panic among thousands of people trying to remain legally in the country who, frustrated by long queues and challenges with the appointment booking system, have been struggling to meet the deadline.
•    Schreiber stated that during this extension period holders of ZEPs may not be arrested or deported.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has stepped in at the eleventh hour on Friday morning to extend the validity of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP).
This comes as the ZEP was meant to expire on Friday, causing panic among thousands of people trying to remain legally in the country.
In the government gazette on 29 November, Schreiber said that the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit would remain valid until 28 November 2025 “in order for me to fulfill the duty placed on me by the Gauteng High Court to consult the affected ZEP holders and all other stakeholders on the future of the current dispensation”.
He was referring to a court ruling, previously reported by GroundUp.
Schreiber stated that the Immigration Advisory Board would once again be activated to advise the department on ways to comply with the High Court order on the future of the ZEP.
He further stated that “no holder of a ZEP may be arrested, ordered to depart or be detained for deportation or deported in terms of section 34 of the Immigration Act for any reason related to him or her not having any valid exemption certificate”.
Holders of an exemption certificate will be allowed to travel in and out of the country, “provided that he or she complies with all other requirements for entry into and departure, save for the reason of not having a valid visa endorsed in his or her passport”.
Long queues
As news of the extension broke on Friday, many ZEP holders were still stuck in long queues outside VFS Global offices in Cape Town and Gqeberha in a desperate bid to apply for waivers to remain in South Africa when their ZEPs expire. VFS is the service provider for the Department of Home Affairs.
Outside the office in Cape Town on Thursday, just after 6am the queue was already snaking around the building.
Many people in line told GroundUp they had spent days at VFS offices to collect or query their applications to remain in South Africa. People complained about the functionality of the VFS online booking system.
A sign outside the VFS office said it would be open on Saturday for people to collect their waivers.
At the Gqeberha VFS Global office in Walmer on Friday morning lines remained long with about 80 people still queueing at 10am.
A mother of three, who is a ZEP holder, said she had travelled from Cradock and was told to return on Friday morning.
“I live far away and have no friends here … I am in limbo because I have to ensure I stay legally in this country given the constant arrests by immigration officials,” she said.
A mother and a son from Cleary Park, turned away on Thursday, said they had been trying to book an appointment for the past month without success.
“We did our best to make online appointments. At first, I thought maybe my son did not know the system. Then we went to seek assistance from an internet cafe only to see that it was the same,” she said.
Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Migrants Support Network Chris Mapingure said, “We’re not happy with the way Home Affairs has been treating people wanting to extend their permits through VFS. During the month, desperate people approached us for assistance because they had difficulty booking appointments.”
He said they had pleaded with the Home Affairs to extend the grace period to allow for everyone to be assisted.
Questions sent to VFS Global were not answered at the time of publication.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has said that the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) is an obstacle to the technological progress of his department and government as a whole.

Schreiber made these remarks during his National Council of Provinces (NCOP) executive statement on the digital transformation of Home Affairs to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of services to the public.
“SITA is an artificial construct that stands squarely in the way of technological progress, not only at Home Affairs but across government,” Schreiber said during the address.

“SITA currently exercises a monopoly over key aspects of IT services in the public sector. The model of imposing a state monopoly over digital technologies is not fit for purpose in the digital age.”
Schreiber said that his department’s attempts to bring about technological reform will always fall short if it cannot procure, maintain, and manage its own infrastructure.

Therefore, he has called on the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies to rectify the regulatory environment surrounding IT in South Africa.
While Schreiber does point out that an agency like SITA will always be needed to ensure interoperability and set IT standards within government, he believes its monopoly over IT infrastructure in South Africa is dead in the water.
“The SITA monopoly is a proven failure,” says Schreiber.

“This is demonstrated every time that its infrastructure takes the Home Affairs system offline, leaves data unprotected, or even fails to keep government’s website and email system up and running.”
Several government websites, including gov.za were offline earlier this week.
The Minister believes that his department will be able to successfully deliver on its vision of Home Affairs @home if the government can free it from SITA’s monopoly on IT infrastructure.

“With the support of this House and of every South African who wants a working Home Affairs, we can remove regulatory hurdles and build a digital-first Home Affairs that delivers dignity to all the people of South Africa,” he added.
Schreiber is not the first Home Affairs minister to voice their frustration with SITA.
Aaron Motsoaledi also highlighted his concerns with the state agency before President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed him Minister of Health.

Responding to questions from DA MP Ricardo Mackenzie during an NCOP budget vote debate in 2021, Motsoaledi said that the IT services provided by SITA were the “original sin” of Home Affairs.
By comparing SITA’s services to the Christian doctrine of original sin, Motsoaledi implied that all of the department’s problems can be traced back to SITA.

Motsoaledi said that while other government departments may be somewhat affected by problems at SITA, it has a crippling impact on Home Affairs.
“We have done away with manual systems and introduced a live capture system about eight years ago,” the Minister stated.
He also highlighted the importance of these systems to Home Affairs and, in turn, to the functioning of the entire country.
“This department is the most important department in the country. There’s nothing you can do without Home Affairs. If Home Affairs is fixed, South Africa will work,” Mackenzie stated.

Motsoaledi said that they visited SITA’s headquarters in Centurion and met with all the IT companies in South Africa that are capable of providing the necessary services.
“IBM, EOH later replaced by Gijima, BBD and D, Shannon, you name them. We even called their CEOs to sit there and help us resolve this IT system — the original sin of Home Affairs.
Former SITA boss Luvuyo Keyise quickly hit back at the Motsoaledi.
Keyise said Home Affairs’ problems were not SITA’s fault but due to the department’s own ineptitude and unwillingness to pay for the quality of service it actually needs.

Keyise also explained that SITA does not even directly supply many of the services Home Affairs uses.
“Home Affairs has procured companies through SITA that run and manage its systems,” he said.
The main problem, Keyise said, was that Home Affairs decided to buy the cheapest possible IT services that come with the lowest service level agreements.

“They buy a bronze service, which offers a 16 business hours turnaround time on issues,” explained Keyise.
SITA then asked Home Affairs to consider upgrading to a platinum-tier service, which would give them all the redundancy they needed and a far more stringent service level agreement.

Keyise said that with a platinum service, problems must be resolved within an hour. However, due to the redundancies the service comes with any outage is usually mitigated within minutes.
Earlier this year, Schreiber revealed that some Home Affairs offices still use 2Mbps DLS for connectivity, over two years after SITA first highlighted the issue.

The Fair Work Ombudsman and the Department of Home Affairs have made surprise inspections this week of about 40 Sydney businesses employing migrant workers.

Businesses, mostly in the food sector, were inspected across Sydney’s CBD: Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, Barangaroo South, Haymarket, Walsh Bay and The Rocks. Businesses were also inspected in the suburbs of Surry Hills, Alexandria, Eastern Creek, Narrabeen, Crows Nest, Chester Hill and Chullora.

Fair Work Inspectors checked time and wage records to ensure that vulnerable migrant workers were being paid their correct wages and entitlements. They also checked whether employers’ record-keeping and pay slips were compliant with the Fair Work Act.
The focus of the joint inspections was on fast food outlets, restaurants and cafés, but inspections also extended to businesses in the health and community services, road transport and manufacturing sectors.

The on-the-ground inspections, which took place from Tuesday to Thursday, targeted those employing sponsored visa holders under the Temporary Skills Shortage (subclass 482) visa program. In Australia, ‘chef’ is one of the top occupations for sponsored visas holders.

Home Affairs Sponsor Monitoring Unit officers provided employers with information about migrant worker protections under the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Act, which came into effect in July this year to combat the exploitation of temporary migrant workers.

The Australian Government has introduced the Strengthening Reporting Protections Pilot and Workplace Justice Visa Pilot to address migration-related barriers that can deter temporary migrants from reporting exploitation or seeking workplace justice. The Department of Home Affairs is administering both pilot programs.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the Sydney inspections were part of a continuing national program of audits by the FWO and Home Affairs that assess the compliance of approved sponsors of temporary migrant workers.
“Fair Work Inspectors together with Home Affairs officers have been on the ground in Sydney this week holding employers to account,” Ms Booth said.

“Workplace breaches that involve migrant workers may be particularly serious as these workers can be vulnerable to exploitation. We find they are often unaware of their workplace rights or unwilling to speak up if something seems wrong.

“It is crucial visa holders know that they have the same workplace rights as all other workers, and protections for visas exist if they call out workplace exploitation. We urge workers with concerns about wages and entitlements to reach out to us.”

Ms Booth noted that the fast food, restaurants and cafés sector remained a priority area for the FWO and urged employers to prioritise compliance.
“Employers should access our free tools and resources to ensure they’re meeting their obligations, or contact the FWO directly for free advice.”

Home Affairs Commander Field Operations and Sponsor Monitoring, Ben Biddington, said the joint activity reinforces that Australia will not tolerate exploitation and abuse of migrant workers or its visa programs.
“Migrant workers play a key part in the economy. There is no place in Australia for employers who exploit them,” Commander Biddington said.

“Our message is clear to employers: do the right thing and abide by your obligations. Don’t exploit vulnerable workers or abuse our visa regime — there is no excuse and the consequences could be severe.”

A particular focus Home Affairs officers brought to this joint activity was ensuring sponsored visa holders were not subject to exploitation, were working in nominated positions and were not abused by excessive hours or unsafe work practices.
“It has never been easier for employers to do the right thing,” Commander Biddington said.

“They are able to easily check the work rights of prospective employees by using Home Affairs’ dedicated Visa Entitlement Verification Online system to ensure they do not inadvertently allow illegal work.
“The new laws make it a criminal offence for employers to use a person’s immigration status to exploit them in the workplace.”
Criminal penalties include up to two years’ jail and/or a fine of up to $118,800.

The FWO’s investigations continue after the concluded site visits.
The joint inspections follow similar audits of food businesses in Brisbane in October.
Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance about their rights and obligations in the workplace. A free interpreter service is available on 13 14 50. Information can also be provided to the FWO anonymously, including in 16 languages other than English.

The FWO has resources for visa holder workers. The FWO also has interactive tools to help employers and employees in the fast food, restaurants and cafés sector, and for any franchisees.
Employers can also use the FWO’s pay calculator and Small Business Showcase. Employees can also seek information from their employer or their union, if they are a member.
More information on changes under the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Act can be found at Migrant worker protections (homeaffairs.gov.au)