SA Home Affairs Minister Orders Police Not To Arrest or Deport Zimbabweans With Special Exemption Permits

SA Home Affairs Minister Orders Police Not To Arrest or Deport Zimbabweans With Special Exemption Permits

South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has ordered the police and other authorities not to detain, arrest or deport Zimbabweans who hold special exemption permits.

There has been general chaos and confusion after the South African government announced last year, that it would not be renewing the special permits issued to Zimbabwe nationals under the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) programme.

The SA government’s decision was met with dismay by close to 182,000 Zimbabweans who hold the permit. They have been given a year’s grace to migrate to other permits to allow them to stay in South Africa or leave the country.

South Africa has also stepped up its measures to deal with illegal immigrants, particularly those from Zimbabwe. The Home Affairs Department has set up a series of massive roadblocks near the Beitbridge border post to intercept undocumented Zimbabweans and other nationals entering the country illegally.

In a directive, the Home Affairs minister instructed that Special Zimbabweans Exemption Permits holders should not be arrested, detained, or deported.

Below is the full immigration directive from the Minister of Home Affairs.

MINISTER’S IMMIGRATION DIRECTIVE NO 1 OF 2021

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION TO EXTEND ZIMBABWEAN NATIONALS’ EXEMPTIONS GRANTED IN TERMS OF SECTION 31(2)(b), READ WITH SECTION 31(2)(d) OF THE IMMIGRATION ACT 13 OF 2002

I, Dr PA Motsoaledi, MP, Minister of Home Affairs having, with the powers bestowed upon me in terms of section 31(2)(b), read with section 31(2)(d) of the Immigration Act, decided to extend the Zimbabwean exemptions granted to Zimbabwean nationals for a period of 12 months in order to allow the holders thereof to apply for one or other visas provided for in the Immigration Act that they may qualify for, hereby direct that this decision should be implemented as follows, during the 12 months’ period, ending 31 December 2022:

1. No holder of the exemption may be arrested, ordered to depart or be detained for purposes of deportation or deported in terms of the section 34 of the Immigration Act for any reason related to him or her not having any valid exemption certificate (i.e permit label / sticker) in his or her passport. The holder of the exemption permit may not be dealt with in terms of sections 29, 30 and 32 of the Immigration Act

2. The holder of the exemption may be allowed to enter into or depart from the Republic of South Africa in terms of section 9 of the 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 valid permit indicated in his or her passport; and

3. No holder of exemption should be required to produce-

(a) a valid exemption certificate;

(b) an authorisation letter to remain in the Republic contemplated in section 32(2) of the Immigration Act when making an application for any category of the visas, including temporary residence visa.

Any enquiry related to the contents of this Directive, should be directed to Mr Jackson Mckay, Deputy Director-General: Immigration Services, E-mail ZEPenquiries@dha.gov.za