Africa-Press – South-Africa. The organisation that hauled the Department of Home Affairs to court over the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP) says the six-month extension is not enough.
Luke Dzviti of the Zimbabwean Immigration Federation (ZIF) said while they were relieved, it was not a solution.
“The same problems we have now in reviewing the visas are the same problems we will have by 30 June. The conditions have not changed,” he added.
The permits were supposed to expire in December.
Last week, Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi extended the permits for another six months.
One reason for the extension was that the department had received few applications by Zimbabwean nationals for ordinary visas so far.
Last month, News24 reported the department made submissions in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that only 6 000 of the 178 000 permit holders had made representations about why the department should not terminate their permits.
Less than 4% have made representations to govt – home affairs dept
The ZIF is one of the organisations that took the department to court over the ZEP.
It wants the government to be interdicted from arresting or deporting ZEP holders once their permits expire.
In the second part of its application, the ZIF wants the department to review the decision not to extend the ZEP.
The organisation also wants the department to restart the review process for permits and, in the meantime, allow ZEP holders to remain in the country.
Dzviti said they were not backing down from their court action, adding even with the extension, the department still had “hostile” conditions for renewals.
He argued in six months, conditions in Zimbabwe would not have changed.
“People have no homes in Zimbabwe. They built their lives here.”
The extension was welcomed by the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa.
The organisation’s Rosemary Anderson said: “Requiring of ZEPs to leave South Africa would not only have negative consequences for the hospitality and tourism industry but would cause trauma and pain to people whose only sin was to legally look for a better life for themselves and their families.”
She added the unemployment problems in the country would not improve even if ZEP holders left the country.
“For tourism and hospitality to deliver on its economic promise, we require an approach where all government departments, business, and labour join forces to remove unnecessary red tape, provide a tourism-friendly environment and elevate our destination status to the level it should be.”
But not everyone is happy with the extension.
In a statement on Monday, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said the extension was a “mockery of our constitutional democracy and further chips away at the autonomy of our state and its function, especially on managing our borders”.
He added the party would monitor the extension.
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