Zimbabweans in South Africa can sigh with relief after the Home Affairs department gazetted an official extension to November 2025 for existing Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEPs).
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the extension was granted so he could consult the affected ZEP holders to comply with the Gauteng High Court order.
"I...with the powers bestowed upon me in terms of section 31(2)(b) of the Immigration Act, have decided to extend the validity of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits until November 28, 2025 in order for me to fulfill the duty placed on me by the Gauteng High Court to consult the affected ZEP holders and all other stakeholders on the future of the current dispensation," he wrote in the Government Gazette.
"The reactivation of the Immigration Advisory Board (“IAB”) is currently under way and its first task will be to consider, advise and enable the steps required for compliance with the Order of the High Court on the future of the ZEP. In order to give the IAB time to properly do its work, and a fair process to be followed."
He stated that, in line with this, he has directed that all existing ZEPs will be valid for the next 12 months and that no ZEP holder may be arrested, ordered to depart or be detained for purposes of deportation or deported in terms of section 34 of the Immigration Act, in relation to not having a valid exemption certificate.
Schreiber said that holders of exemption certificates may be allowed to enter or depart South Africa in terms of section 9 of the Immigration Act, provided that he or she complies with all other requirements for entry into and departure.
"No ZEP holder should be required to produce a valid exemption certificate, visa or an authorisation letter to remain in the Republic as contemplated in section 32(1) of the Immigration Act when making an application for any category of the visa for temporary sojourn in the Republic as contemplated in section 10(2) of the Immigration Act."
He signed the directive in Cape Town on Thursday.
In June, the Constitutional Court dismissed an application by the home affairs minister for leave to appeal a June 2023 Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, judgment which held that the ZEP had been unlawfully terminated.
At the time, the Helen Suzman Foundation said the June 2023 judgment was unequivocal in holding that the minister was obliged to follow a fair consultation process. This would duly consider the rights of those affected by terminating the ZEP, before he be lawfully allowed to do so.
The foundation said the Constitutional Court’s order affirmed with finality that this most basic of legal duties binds the minister, notwithstanding changes in office that may occur once a new government is formed, when deciding the ZEP’s future.
“It is a vital affirmation – for ZEP holders and South African citizens alike – that principles of fair hearing and rational government are indispensable to our constitutional democracy,” foundation executive director, Naseema Fakir, said at the time.
The court last year dismissed, then minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s application for leave to appeal the earlier judgment, which declared his decision to terminate the ZEP programme as unconstitutional.
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