On Wednesday a full Bench of the High Court handed down judgments finding against Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi in two Zimbabwean Exemption Permit related matters. Motsoaledi has announced that he will apply for leave to appeal against both judgments.The minister said the judgments set dangerous precedents. Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has announced that his office will apply for leave to appeal against two Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) judgments handed down by a full Bench of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria this week. The full Bench found against Motsoaledi on two different judgments, both relating to the ZEP. In the first, the court found that Motsoaledi`s decision to terminate the ZEP was invalid, unlawful and unconstitutional. Since 2009, eligible Zimbabweans have been granted exemption permits allowing them to live and work in South Africa. This specific type of permit, now known as the ZEP, was introduced for those who fled to South Africa due to their home country`s economic and political strife. The ZEP was due to expire in December 2021. Motsoaledi decided not to renew the permit, which affects more than 178 000 people, and extended the expiration deadline to the end of June 2023, which was later changed to December 2023.

The court found that the minister did not follow a fair process before making his decision, which should have included consultation with and an opportunity for ZEP holders to make representations.

The court also said Motsoaledi did not consider the impact his decision would have on the holders and that the decision was an unjustified limitation of rights on those affected.

The full Bench set the decision aside and ordered that the matter go back to Motsoaledi for reconsideration, following a fair process that complied with the requisite legislation.

The court also declared that, pending the process, the ZEP will be deemed to remain valid for the next 12 months.

News24 reported that in the second judgment, the court ordered Motsoaledi not to arrest or issue deportation orders for ZEP holders and that they be allowed to leave and return to South Africa.

Judgments can`t go unchallenged

In a statement on Thursday, Motsoaledi`s spokesperson Siya Qoza said the minister had carefully studied the first judgment and took legal advice.

`The two judgments cannot go unchallenged as they set a dangerous precedent,` Qoza said.

The statement said these precedents are the findings of the court on the applicability of certain sections of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA), which the Department of Home Affairs said was `highly questionable, particularly the requirement for public participation when a decision of this nature is taken, affecting a specified category of persons only. In this instance, the affected Zimbabwean nationals.`

It added: `The decision that the minister took not to extend the Zimbabwean exemptions involves weighing of policy considerations which falls within the domain of the executive.`

The minister also believes that judgment deals with matters relating to the separation of powers, which he believes is another `strong ground for appeal`.

On the second judgment, the department said Motsoaledi would challenge the outcome of the matter on the same basis as the first judgment.

`It is not clear as to what is the purpose of [the] interdict when in fact the minister issued directives to ensure that the affected Zimbabwean nationals continue to enjoy the protections afforded by the directives,` Qoza said.

`The last minister’s immigration directive was issued on 7 June 2023. Since the minister took the decision, no Zimbabwean national has been threatened in any manner whatsoever and/or deported.

`They continue to enjoy freedom of movement between South Africa and Zimbabwe and anywhere, as pleaded in the affidavits filed in court on behalf of the minister showing significant movements to and from Zimbabwe by the affected Zimbabwean nationals and their families.`

According to the statement, Motsoaledi has already instructed his legal team to launch an application for leave to appeal against both judgments.

`The minister would like to take this opportunity to assure the nation that he will do everything in his power to ensure that the immigration laws of the Republic of South Africa are enforced without fear or favour.`

Update on ZEP Case. Helen Suzman foundation have won. The ZEP continues in place until the Minister makes a new decision after a fair process.  they are granted 12 months extention from today - Minister has 12 months to correct

The German parliament has approved immigration reforms designed to attract skilled workers to the country, which is suffering from an unprecedented labour shortage.

The legislation initiated by the governing centre-left coalition of the Social Democrats, the liberal Free Democrats and the Greens on Friday garnered 388 votes while 234 lawmakers voted against it and 31 abstained.

A conservative parliamentary bloc made up of the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, voted against the legislation, arguing that it would ease entry for unskilled labourers.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party also voted against it.

The law includes a points-based system that lowers entry hurdles for work visa applicants according to their professional qualifications, age and language skills.

This year, the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) said more than half of German companies were struggling to fill vacancies due to a lack of skilled workers.

The proportion of companies facing difficulties hiring was at its highest ever level, the DIHK found in its survey of 22,000 companies. Fifty-three percent reported worker shortages.

Who let all these tourists into our lovely tourist traps? France tells its 37m visitors where to go. And you’re speaking French because …? Because this is about France.

Ooh, I’m going to France on holiday as it happens. Hardly original it is the world’s most visited country. Whereabouts?

Well, I’m starting in Paris … You and more than 37 million others that’s the projection for this year.

… To take some selfies in front of Emily’s favourite haunts. Emily?

In Paris. Ah yes, of course, the much-maligned Netflix romantic drama. That’s partly to blame. So you’ll be sipping champagne in a strapless black dress in front of the Eiffel Tower?

Yes! Before heading to the Place de l’Estrapade and the Atelier des Lumières. Are you planning on going anywhere else in the country?

I’m heading up to Normandy, to somewhere called Étretrat, which has stunning cliffs. It was in another Netflix show called Lupin, which I haven’t actually seen, but it looks cool. Hmmm.

Then obviously over to Mont-Saint-Michel, which is famous for being on Instagram. Everyone goes there … Almost literally. Did you not see the pictures of the queues the other day? There were 60,000 people in one weekend.

I didn’t. Whose pictures? The Mont-Saint-Michel tourist office’s pictures.

Oh, I don’t follow them … Hang on, the tourist office, you say? It’s almost as though they’re telling people not to come. That’s exactly what they are doing.

Why? Because of overtourism.

So there are too many of us? And all in the same places: 80% of visitors focus on just 20% of the country. France is launching a campaign, aimed at British people and other foreigners, to try to get us to travel to less visited places.

Herd the Brits to the places no one wants to go? No, it’s about protecting places and their ways of life, as well as making the experience better for visitors.

How are they going to do it? A mixture of ways. There is talk of using influencers to deter people from some sites.

“Here’s a picture of me looking sad at Mont-Saint-Michel. It’s rubbish don’t come”? Well, maybe not rubbish, but crowded. So much so that Thomas Velter of the local tourist authority is talking about putting up turnstiles.

So it will feel a bit like going to a football match? What else? They are planning to use France’s embassies and consulates to spread the word.

And spread the crowds. “Vous êtes les bienvenus, mais pas ici” (“You are welcome, but not here”)? And some sites will limit numbers and introduce booking systems.

Do say: “Next time I will mainly be visiting the Parisian suburb from La Haine, followed by a tour of the industrial cities of Lorraine. In February.”

Don’t say: “Smile. Say fromage.”

Schengen visa applicants are more frustrated than ever with the increasing rejection rates, calling out on the Schengen countries to stop “mercilessly” refusing their applications.

Sharing their experiences on Twitter, several Schengen visa applicants have complained that their applications have been rejected unfairly, listing all the difficulties they have encountered to apply, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

“I am so sad and angry. I was invited to the Google IO event that will take place in Amsterdam on June 20. We wanted to go as a family and spend five days in the Netherlands. I applied for a Dutch visa on April 25. They waited until June 7 and refused,” a Twitter user called Selin Tunc wrote on June 8.

She further explained that she had been told to appeal within four weeks, but as the date of the event she was planning to attend was approaching, she decided it was not something worth doing.

According to a thread of tweets, the reason presented by the authorities for Tunc’s visa rejection, who is the spouse of an EU national, is that she had not submitted sufficient proof that she is married to her husband, and that there was not strong enough proof that they have a child together, as claimed by the applicant.

Yet, Tunc says that she had provided a marriage certificate, and the birth certificate of the child she has with her spouse, an EU national.

“Since I learned the result yesterday, my eyes are swollen from crying,” she further wrote.

Tunc is not the only one to experience such a visa rejection. Other applicants have also shared the reasons why they applications were rejected, calling the trend of rejecting visas “mercilessly” unfair.

Meagan Teutsch, a US resident, says her husband, an Indian software engineer at Zillow in Seattle with a Green Card had his Swiss Schengen Visa rejected under claims that “information submitted regarding the justification for the purposes and conditions for the intended stay was not reliable.”

“We provided our letters of invitation, hotels, flights, and everything else so it doesn’t make sense,” she says.

2022 Schengen Visa Statistics released last month show that in the same year, Schengen Member States rejected 17.9 per cent of the 7,572,755 applications for a Schengen visa filed worldwide.

The two countries with the highest number of rejected visas this year were France, with 408,876 rejected applications and Spain, with 227,712 rejected applications. The two were also the countries with the highest number of applications received and visas granted in 2022, followed by Germany.

In the past years, the rejection rates have increased from 8.2 per cent in 2017, to 9.6 per cent in 2018, 9.9 per cent in 2020, 13.6 per cent in 2020, reaching an all-time high of 17.9 per cent in 2022.