50 South African human rights organisations say scrapping Zimbabwe special permits will cause humanitarian crisis

“ZEP scheme was implemented by [Home Affairs], with the aim of creating a record of Zimbabweans who had, until then, been living in South Africa undocumented, granting them an amnesty, and regularising undocumented Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa.

“The implementation of the ZEP scheme further alleviated the burden placed on the asylum system … The vast majority of ZEP holders would have been entitled to either refugee status or some kind of humanitarian protection in any event.”

“We are concerned that the above decision is contrary to [the department’s] initial, constructive initiative to address its backlog. It will more than likely significantly increase the category of undocumented persons in South Africa, undermining work that [Home Affairs] has undertaken in the past ten years to regularise undocumented Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa.”

Sharon Ekambaram, LHR Manager for Refugee and Migrants Rights Programme, said, “We are collecting testimonies and experiences from ZEP holders.”

James Chapman, Head of Advocacy and Legal Advisor at the Scalabrini Centre, said that although the decision taken was within the powers of the Minister of Home Affairs, the decision still needed to be reasonable, just and administratively fair.

Scalabrini is taking instructions from a number of ZEP holders who are facing extreme difficulties. He said the requests vary from wanting permanent residency, extension of the ZEP, and help with applications for low-skills permits.

Outlining some of the implications of the ZEP not being renewed, Chapman said, “Families would be separated. There would be children accessing school and remaining in the country, but parents no longer able to stay because the ZEP is no longer in place.”

“There is a whole range of services that could well be compromised that were accessible before … For instance, during Covid there was an extension of the relief of the stress grants to asylum seekers and ZEP holders, but if you cease to be a ZEP holder that kind of grant would no longer be accessible.”

“Scalabrini has already begun to engage the government on the issue and will continue to do so to look at the ZEP decision and alternatives available to ZEP holders,” said Chapman.

Home Affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza said the department had sent individual letters to approximately 178 142 Zimbabweans. It had also circulated a directive to banks, employers, academic institutions and other relevant stakeholders.

He said Home Affairs had received about 7 000 queries and responded to 2 500 to date.

“The Zimbabwean nationals are expected to migrate to one or other visas provided for in the Immigration Act. The Minister has set up a special team which is currently undergoing further training to deal with the expected influx of the applications and VFS Global has been instructed to prioritise the applications of the Zimbabwean nationals,” said Qoza.

By Tariro Washinyira for GroundUp

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