Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has extended the validity of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP) until 28 November 2025.
In 2022, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria declared that then-Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s decision to terminate the ZEP was unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid. The court found that the process was unfair in that the Minister failed to consult ZEP holders.
HOME AFFAIRS EXTENDS VALIDITY OF ZEPs
Gazetted on 29 November, Schreiber said he extended the validity of the permits to fulfil the duty placed on him by the Gauteng High Court, “to consult the affected ZEP holders and all other stakeholders on the future of the current dispensation”.
He added that the reactivation of the Immigration Advisory Board (IAB) was currently underway, and its first task would be to “consider, advise and enable the steps required for compliance with the Order of the High Court on the future of the ZEP”.
To give the IAB time to do its work correctly and a fair process to be followed, the minister directed that:
- Existing ZEPs shall be deemed to remain valid for the next 12 months;
- No holder of a ZEP may be arrested, ordered to depart or be detained for purposes of deportation or deported in terms of section 34 of the Immigration Act for any reason related to him or her not having any valid exemption certificate;
- The holder of an exemption certificate may be allowed to enter into or depart from the Republic of South Africa in terms of section 9 of the Immigration Act, read together with the Immigration Regulations, 2014, provided that he or she complies with all other requirements for entry into and departure from the Republic, save for the reason of not having a valid visa endorsed in his or her passport; and
- 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.
DO YOU SUPPORT SCHREIBER’S DECISION TO EXTEND THE ZEPs?
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