By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Authorities in South African on Thursday extended till December, the deadline for Zimbabweans working in the country to regularise their work permits or risk deportation.
This is a six months extension from the initial deadline due to expire by the end of this month, giving about 178,000 Zimbabwe nationals in Johannesburg a temporary relief.
The over 150,000 affected persons are holders of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit, an immigration permit issued in 2010 to Zimbabweans who had migrated to South Africa.
Within this window of extension, they are expected apply for other visas and waivers to continue working in the country.
Announcing the decision, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the department has been receiving between 1,000 and 1,500 daily applications for visas and waivers from Zimbabweans looking to extend their stay in South Africa.
“The minister took into consideration the said factors, including (to a certain extent) submissions received from the affected Zimbabwean nationals, relevant officials of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and other interested parties,” said Motsoaledi’s department in a statement.
Under the extension, holders of the ZEP may not be arrested, ordered to leave the country or be detained for not having a valid exemption certificate.
Many Zimbabweans, some undocumented, are living in South Africa, with a significant influx recorded following the 2008 political and economic upheaval in Zimbabwe that resulted in many fleeing to their southern African neighbor.
Many faced deportation as they have struggled to obtain work visas due to a combination of factors including glitches in the online application system, administrative delays and backlogs in the issuing of all visas, and the removal of some of their occupations from the country’s scarce skills list.
Some civil society groups had taken the South African government to court to force the department to extend the deadline and afford applicants more time to obtain the legal documents.
“The Zimbabwe Community in SA welcomes this extension and understands that this period must be hastily used by our community to migrate to the mainstream work permits,” said Zimbabwe Community in South Africa chairman Nicholas Mabhena.
Mabhena said Zimbabwean nationals affected by the permits included people who had lived in South Africa long before the permits were issued in 2010, having resided and worked under a different immigration regime.
They include teachers, general workers, mechanics, domestic workers and gas station attendants who are financially supporting their families back home.
