Zimbabweans in South Africa face uncertain future over ZEP status

Daily Vox – 18 October 2021

Thousands of Zimbabwean permit holders are living in uncertainty because the South African government has not yet indicated whether it will renew their permits. It’s difficult to ascertain how many Zimbabweans there are in South Africa. According to data collected from Africa Check, the number of migrants from Zimbabwe living in South Africa is well under a million. And come December 2021, Zimbabwean permit holders face an uncertain future.

[UPDATE AS OF August 27] In response to questions from The Daily Vox, the department said an announcement about what happens with the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit after 31 December 2021 will be made in due course. 

[Update as of August 25] VFS Global has told The Daily Vox their role is limited to the administration of the permit. They schedule appointments, accept applications and fees, enrol in biometrics and submit applications to the department. The adjudication of the permit applications is done by the department. VFS Global has no role in the decision making process, they said.

What is a ZEP?

The ZEP was a permit issued to Zimbabweans who had a valid Zimbabwean Special Permit (ZSP). On September 8, 2017 the South African government issued a statement by then home affairs minister Hlengiwe Mkhize about the closure of the (ZSP). Minister Mkhize announced the opening of the new Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP). Before the ZSP, there was the Zimbabwean Special Dispensation permit. 

With the deadline approaching for the ZEP, the department has not mentioned what will happen next. 

The ZEP permits were issued for a maximum period of four years. They begin on January 1, 2018 and are set to expire on December 31, 2021. An administrative fee of R1090 was charged to ZSP permit holders that wanted to remain in South Africa. 

The permits and applications centres are managed by VFS Global for the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Applicants are required to submit a completed application form and supporting documents online through the VFS global website. 

Applicants were required to make an appointment at the VFS Global application centre and attend this appointment in person to complete the application process and submit their biometrics. Minors did not need to attend the submission process. Applicants are required to provide their valid Zimbabwean passport and copies of the permit along with other supporting documents. 

There are three categories of people who are allowed to apply. People are allowed to apply for work, if they own a business and if they are studying. Each of the categories require a letter from the relevant institutions. 

The ZEP conditions state that the permit “does not entitle the holder the right to apply for permanent residence irrespective of the period of stay in the RSA.” It also states that “ZEP permits will not be renewable/extendable.”

How does it affect people?

The Daily Vox spoke to David, a Zimbabwean man, about his concerns regarding the status of ZEP permit renewal. David is a delivery driver at a stationery company and lives in Cape Town with his wife and three children. He has been living in South Africa for 18 years.

“I started with an asylum seeker permit before I got the ZDP, ZSP and the ZEP. I’m anxious about the permits not being renewed because my livelihood is at risk,” he said.  David said he needs to provide for his family. However, without a valid permit, he is at risk of losing his job and his bank accounts could be frozen.  

“My children who also have ZEP permits that entitle them to conduct studies, will also be at risk of losing access to their education. I am fearful and anxious about the future,” said David. 

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Asylum seekers can apply for distress grant for caregivers

ENCA – 18 October 2021

Unemployed carers of child grant recipients who don’t have identity documents can apply for the COVID-19 special relief of distress grant, They can use their SASSA system-generated ID number

 JOHANNESBURG - Asylum seekers and unemployed carers of child grant recipients who don’t have identity documents can apply for the COVID-19 special relief of distress grant.

They can use their Sassa system-generated ID number.

Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said, "I think, the intention here is to make sure that especially asylum seekers who do not necessarily have the ID number with them, because we can recall that if you come to South Africa from outside and coming here without the necessary documentation."

"These are the people who have gone to Home Affairs made an application to be refugees so we are trying to make sure that we accommodate them, but obviously, you must go to Home Affairs to make an application send it to us as Sassa and we will generate a unique number which is given to you it basically ends with…and then that number then you can be able to use to make an application to access the R350 grant.

www.samigration.com

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Home affairs minister abdicates his duties

Mail and Guardian – 17 October 2021

In the scheme of South Africa’s immigration legislation, the minister of home affairs has specific roles to play as a decision-maker. While his delegates in home affairs fulfil his functions, he can never divest himself of his legislative powers.

Many of the decisions the minister is tasked to make can irreversibly alter the lives of the parties involved. The minister is the decision-maker of last resort in the administrative appeals process.

South Africa’s immigration regulations are made and published by the minister. Visa exemptions for citizens of foreign countries, enabling them to freely enter South Africa, are granted by the minister. The immigration inspectorate carries out its duties with directions from the minister.

But, perhaps most importantly, the minister has the express authority to exempt foreigners from the rights of residence for indefinite or limited periods of time, when special circumstances exist that would justify such a decision. Section 31(2)(b) of South Africa’s Immigration Act accords the minister this power.

The objectives of South Africa’s immigration system are clearly set out in the Immigration Act’s preamble.

Among these is the condition that “immigration control is performed within the highest applicable standards of human rights protection”, and that a human rights-based culture of enforcement is promoted.

The Roman poet Horace once exclaimed — rather more poetically — that people tended to take their troubles wherever they went. South Africa is no less a receptacle of
troubled foreigners than anywhere else.

But this country does have a constitutional obligation to meet the needs of people, whoever they are. Our immigration enforcement authorities are obliged to deal with whichever problems foreigners in South Africa face, in a manner that meets “the highest applicable standards of human rights protection”, to quote the Act.

The minister has miserably failed to exercise his power in the granting of residence exemptions, leaving constitutional imperatives to hang like rotten fruit on a tree.

In one such case in 2018, a German was confronted with an abandoned infant on her doorstep, and undertook to foster the child. She visited the children’s court and was given a limited time frame in which to obtain permanent residence to become a legal foster parent.

The ministerial office neglected to respond to her application for a permanent residence exemption, despite it being a matter of paramount urgency. The applicant had to resort to obtaining a court order. Without having gone to the Western Cape high court, the special circumstances surrounding this woman’s application would never have been acknowledged.

Since Malusi Gigaba took office on May 26 2014 (the day the last legislative amendments came into force) applications for ministerial exemptions —even under the most dramatic of circumstances where the welfare of children, the elderly, and the sick have been at stake —have seen the minister fail to act.

Gigaba has since been replaced by Siyabonga Cwele.

In another case, an epileptic South African woman fell and experienced a brain injury. She spent weeks in a coma in hospital and a Zimbabwean woman was employed to nurse her. After her discharge, the nurse’s employment continued. She lived and slept in the woman’s bedroom for several years, attending to her every need.

Work visas were obtained for the nurse until the new immigration rules came into force, making it near impossible for her to get legal permission to continue working. A department of labour certification waiver was denied because the department — on behalf of the minister — did not see that the welfare of this woman mattered.

Exactly two years ago, an application for a permanent residence exemption was made to the minister. There has been no acknowledgment of the application. It has been met with silence.

Section 31(2)(b) of South Africa’s Immigration Act is a lifesaver, precisely because the parliamentary framers of that section were alive to the frailties of the human condition. The Act requires human problems to be dealt with empathetically, effectively and speedily, within the constructs of our constitutional Bill of Rights and the preamble of the Act.

Every immigration system that operates within a constitutional order must retain sufficient flexibility to respond to the needs of people. This principle is enshrined in section 195(1) of South Africa’s Constitution.

Instead, the minister has run away. Permanent residence exemption applications are dealt with by departmental functionaries, who do not understand the constitutional democratic order in which such applications are made. Applications linger for years and die from pure delay.

The minister’s abdication is a death knell for any living system of immigration control. The ministerial office, it appears, has been vacated.

www,samigration.com