SA: 200 000 Zimbabweans affected as special permits end

Zimbabweans who acquired South African permits under special dispensation will have to follow the normal channel of applying for work and study visas when their papers expire, officials have said.

About 200 000 Zimbabweans in South Africa face deportation when their special dispensation permits expire on December 31. They will then have to return home to apply for new permits.

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, in a statement on Tuesday, confirmed speculation in the mainstream and social media in recent weeks that Zimbabwe Special Permits holders (ZPS) wishing to extend their stay at the expiry of their permits will do so under the conventional immigration laws.

“Accordingly, we have advised Zimbabwean nationals whose special permits are expiring, to apply for visas we issue under the mainstream immigration legislation, in the event they aspire to stay for any other purpose or period. On the basis of Cabinet’s decision on this matter, an announcement will be made on how we are going to proceed, but wild speculation, rumour-mongering, raising false alarm, fear and loathing are unwarranted,” Mr Gigaba said.

He said when the South African government introduced ZSP in August 2014, it had no intention to confer Zimbabweans with permanent residence status.

The special dispensation allowed Zimbabwean holders of the special permit to work, conduct business or study in South Africa for three years.

“We had started the special dispensation with Zimbabweans, with no intention, as clearly communicated, to confer or create expectations of permanent residence. South Africa, like other countries in the Sadc region, is well aware of challenges of border control, and the concomitant influx of economic migrants into the country, many under the pretext of asylum-seeking, with others breaking SA’s immigration legislation,” he said.

Mr Gigaba said the special dispensation proved to be an effective way of regularising the stay of Zimbabweans among other migrants from the Sadc as well as managing the flow of migrant labour in the region.

About 1,8 million Zimbabweans live in South Africa.