Zimpapers Logo

Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau—
ZIMBABWEANS living in South Africa will next week engage the host government seeking a temporary reprieve for 40,000 compatriots who face imminent deportation after they failed to apply for permits under that country’s “Zimbabwe Special Permit” (ZSP) window. The South African Cabinet approved the new permit on August 6 last year following engagements between the two countries’ Home Affairs Ministers.

South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs started processing online applications on October 1 and stopped on December 31 last year.

A total of 245,000 Zimbabweans were eligible to apply for the permits under ZSP but 37,198 failed to meet the deadline due to a number of challenges.

In an interview yesterday, the Zimbabwe Diaspora Forum spokesperson, Trust Ndlovu, said many Zimbabweans were left out due to the criteria and timeframe given to individuals who were eligible to apply for the permits.

“We are going to engage the Department of Home Affairs next week with a view of seeking an extension to the ZSP permits application processes. Six months would be adequate to accommodate all due applicants. We feel the three months between October and December last year was not enough. We are appealing to them (Home Affairs) to extend the process by another three months” said Ndlovu.

“The requirements for sworn affidavits proved to be one of the biggest challenges for the applicants as most employers felt burdened with the processes of going through police stations.”

Ndlovu said they were also working together with leaders of other organisations representing Zimbabweans in addressing the plight of their compatriots.

He said they were in touch with many Zimbabweans who were left out at the closure of the ZSP window.

“Deportation of these people won’t address challenges of illegal migrants in South Africa because most of them have established families with children of South African citizens and deporting them will be tantamount to abuse of children’s rights among others”, he said.

Ndlovu also called on the South African government to come up with a policy which addressed the plight of migrants in that country.

“There are many Zimbabweans who have been staying in South Africa for more than five or 10 years using questionable documents such as asylums. We feel that authorities should look at their plight and accord them permanent residence status because they have since established families here (South Africa) and form part of the country’s taxpayers,” said Ndlovu.

He said they were also appealing to the South African government to relax the application rules which appeared to be a burden to most employers.

According to the new regulations, one needs a valid Zimbabwean passport; evidence of employment (confirmation letter of employment and a sworn affidavit statement from employer), business or accredited study and a clean criminal record.

After making applications online, one had to secure an appointment to hand in the documents at the Home Affairs offices through the call centre.

It is understood that many holders of the previous DZP permits failed to meet the deadline because the VFS website was constantly down and also had challenges in completing all the initial processes.

Furthermore, some failed to get through the VFS call centre as the number was continually unreachable.

Several others failed to apply for the permits after failing to secure sworn affidavit statements from employers, one of the requirements for the permits.

In a statement on Wednesday, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs said they had received a total of 207, 802 applications by end of day on Tuesday. The ZSP programme was a replacement of the Zimbabwe Dispensation Programme which started in May 2009 and expired on December 31 last year.

The Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) processed the permits which were adjudicated by the department of Home Affairs. They opened 10 ZSP Application Centres in the provinces of Gauteng (Midrand), Western Cape (Cape Town), Limpopo (Polokwane) and Kwazulu-Natal (Durban).

Other centres are in George, Port Elizabeth, Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit and Rustenburg.