SA will not extend permit deadline

South African authorities have warned that any applications for work and other permits made by Zimbabweans after a December 31 deadline will not be accepted. Zimbabweans living illegally in South Africa have been given until the end of the year to regularise their stay in the country, by obtaining relevant work or study permits. Pretoria has said it will resume deporting undocumented Zimbabweans back to their country once the deadline lapses. The illegal immigrants are required to produce their Zimbabwean identity documents when applying for South African permits. However Zimbabwean consulate offices in South Africa have struggled to cope with the huge number of people needing passports.  There have also been reports of rampant reports of corruption at consulate offices, with some Zimbabweans being refused passports or being asked for bribes resulting in massive delays in the processing of applications for those who are not willing or cannot afford to bribe officials.
Zimbabwe’s Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede, has said his department is unlikely to be able to issue passports to all the estimated 1.4 million Zimbabwean nationals living illegally in South Africa by the December deadline, meaning many of the immigrants will not be able to submit applications for South African permits on time. Speaking before Parliament's committee on Defence and Home Affairs last Monday, Mudede said his office was unable to cope with the demand for Zimbabwe passports. He said that as of October 31 only 7,500 passports had been issued. Zimbabwean rights groups in South Africa have also warned that the December 31 deadline is unrealistic and have been urging the authorities to extend the cut off period. But South Africa has insisted it will not budge and last week Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma again reiterated that the deadline would remain in place. “There is no way that this can be extended. There are challenges and we are trying to address them,” she said, adding that the deadline “is very firm”. According to Dlamini-Zuma, only those Zimbabweans who would have already submitted application for permits and those awaiting passports will be assisted, but new applications made after the deadline passes will be refused. Braam Hanekom from the Western Cape based refugee rights group PASSOP, said the announcement is a “big blow” and expressed hope that the decision will be reviewed closer to the deadline. He said dismissing any talk of extending the deadline so far in advance “is really unfair.” He also added that announcing that applications will not be accepted after the deadline passes, is contrary to plans of having an effective documentation system for migrants. He said that “if the South African authorities want this plan to succeed then they need to be realistic.” Hanekom meanwhile also lashed out at the Zimbabwean authorities, saying they “have truly failed their own citizens in this process.” “Zimbabwe has failed to meet its own deadlines in supplying passports, creating victims of Zimbabweans in South Africa,” Hanekom said.He added: “The treatment that Zimbabweans originally fled is now extending beyond the country’s borders.”

SW Radio Africa