Teacher shortage to worsen after home affairs cancels Zim exemption permits
Sunday Times Live – 25 April 2022
Almost 200,000 Zimbabwean nationals will be affected and they don’t hold much hope of getting the relevant visa
The pending exodus of Zimbabwean teachers is set to hit South African schools.
The teachers are part of the 200 000 Zimbabweans who hold the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit. The permits will not be renewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced at the end of 2021 that extensions to the permits would not be granted and the affected Zimbabwean nationals would be allowed until the end of this year to get visas.
He said 178,412 Zimbabwean nationals had been granted exemption permits. They now have to apply for a visitor’s visa or a business, relative’s, spousal, critical skills work or general work visa.
But Zimbabwean teachers holding exemption permits said their chances of getting a visa are slim because their employers have to prove to the department of employment & labour why South Africans with the same qualifications could not be appointed to the post.
Thembi Moyo, 36, a teacher at CityKidz, an inner-city school in Johannesburg, said: “I don’t believe my chances of getting a visa are good. They [the department of employment & labour] will need proof that no-one locally can fill the position.”
There are 12 Zimbabweans, including Moyo, at the school who have either exemption permits, special permits or asylum documents.
Moyo, who has been teaching at the school for nine years, said SA is her second home, adding: “We have a lot of parents who are happy with the Zimbabwean teachers.”
Her colleague, Pretty Ndlovu, 53, who teaches English to grade 5 pupils, said she does not know how she will manage financially if she is forced to return to Zim.
“Our country is not financially stable. I am a widow and if I go back, where will I start from? How will I survive? I don’t blame the SA government. Maybe they are running out of resources but they think we, as foreigners, are grabbing up the jobs of locals.”
