Civil Society responds to Home Affairs “Zimbabwe Documentation Project” and end of Special Dispensation for Zimbabweans
In a meeting held on the 6th September 2010 with civil society organisations the Department of Home Affairs clarified their position on the “Zimbabwean Documentation Project”. According to the Home Affairs Deputy Director General, Jackie Mackay, there is a plan to document Zimbabweans who otherwise would not have qualified for permits in terms of the Immigration laws. This would include unskilled and semi-skilled Zimbabweans who until now were excluded from qualifying for these permits on account of their level of skills. According to Mackay, this regularisation process would be a test run for SADC nationals and possibly even other African migrants.
The plan includes the roll out of permits from all DHA’s Regional Offices and will commence within 2 weeks. The accessibility of permits would depend on an individual having in their possession a Zimbabwean passport. Home Affairs has confirmed that they would make available work permits, study permits and business permits and that they would relax the requirements for a Zimbabwean to acquire these permits. There would be no application fee for these permits. The only requirements would be that the applicant be in possession of a passport and must have been in the country on or before the 31st May 2010.
The application process for the work permit would entail the completion and submission of the appropriate application forms together with an affidavit from the employer confirming the employment and the fact that the applicant was already in the country by the 31st May 2010. A work permit will then be issued for a maximum period of four years and would be renewable. The study permit and business permit processes will operate in a similar fashion. DHA stressed that this was a voluntary process and that Zimbabweans who were currently in the asylum process could choose to migrate to this new regime. The duration of time from point of application for the permit to be issued is, according to DHA, 10 days.
The permit will not be issued to any persons with criminal convictions and DHA will carry out a risk assessment of applicants before issuing these permits. This will not include convictions for any immigration offences.
The current cut off date is the 31st December 2010. Home Affairs has stated that if there is a need to continue this documentation project for a further period, the cut off date will be extended.
The following organisations were present at this meeting: Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, Holding Hands for Zimbabwe International, Jesuit Refugee Services, People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty, Lawyers for Human Rights, the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa, the South African Human Rights Commission and representatives of the MDC in South Africa.
Civil Society Response to Home Affairs Plan
There was broad agreement between the civil society organisations present that DHA’s Zimbabwe Documentation Project was a progressive move. The Documentation Project had the potential to make significant positive changes in the lives of thousands of Zimbabweans who have been living and working in South Africa for a number of years. There were also positive implications for the State who would be able to determine how many documented Zimbabweans there are in the country at any time and would be able to better plan around these numbers. It would also reduce the level of irregular migration between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
There are however some criticisms of the Home Affairs plan and these are for the most part focussed on limited to access to Zimbabwean passports, the absence of consultation with civil society organisations, potential problems in the roll out of the documentation plan as well as the absence of any considerations of the current political, economic and humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe.
We have outlined these specific areas of concern as follows:
1. Availability of Zimbabwean passports
There has been no information forthcoming from the Zimbabwean authorities on the availability of passports. The DDG confirmed that there has been liaison with both the Zimbabwean Ministers of Home Affairs but that DHA could not advise on the cost and availability of the Zimbabwean passport. The civil society organisations present at this meeting have agreed to liaise directly with the Zimbabwean authorities in an attempt to receive more information on this issue. The availability of passports is integral to any process of regularisation and without these documents very few would be able to regularise their stay in the country. A high cost in order to access passports would be an impediment to this regularisation process. The Zimbabwean passport currently costs in the region of R1500-00 (USD 140-00 with a one month processing time) and this cost may prevent persons from taking advantage of this regularisation process.
2. Absence of consultation with civil society organisations working on issues around Zimbabweans migration to South Africa
This is a shortcoming of the Home Affairs process. NGOs and Civil Society are integral for the dissemination of information around this documentation project and would also play a vital role in advising Zimbabweans of the advantages of migrating to this regime. In light of the limited success of previous amnesties which were granted by the government, it is vital for good quality and reliable information to be disseminated and this is where government has failed to recognise civil societies’ value.
3. No protection for hawkers and self employed persons in the informal sector
Looking at the requirements for the permits which are available under this documentation project, it is clear that small scale hawkers and persons who are self employed in the informal sector will not
be able to satisfy the requirements for the work permits and will be excluded from this process. It is unlikely that these persons will leave South Africa and will become increasingly vulnerable to police harassment, arrest, detention and deportation. We understand the need to ensure that people adhere to the laws of this country, however when considering a regularisation process it may be prudent to ensure that it covers everyone who has the potential to remain in the country in an irregular manner. However, DHA does have a plan to deal with this situation and that seems to be to coerce a particularly vulnerable group by threatening deportations in the near future.
4. Potential implementation problems
Home Affairs has not yet indicated a start date for this process and we anticipate that they will encounter teething problems once this regularisation process commences. In light of these potential problems and the absence of information of the availability of passports they have already announced a deadline. While DHA has indicated that there is a possibility that the deadline may be extended, allowing only a 3 month window for this process seems short sighted especially in light of the fact that this process is entirely dependent on cooperation from the Zimbabwean authorities and to date we have received no indication of how they intend to support this regularisation process.
7 September 2010
This statement has been issued jointly by the following organisations: Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, Holding Hands for Zimbabwe International, Jesuit Refugee Services, People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty, Lawyers for Human Rights, and representatives of the MDC in South Africa.
For further information please contact:
1. Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, Lawyers for Human Rights on +27 (0) 11 339 1960
2. Braam Hanekom, PASSOP, 0832561140 / +27 (0) 21 762 4638
3. Sabelo Sibanda, Holding Hands for Zimbabwe International, 074 634 3761 / +00 263 912 224 492
4. Gabriel Shumba, Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, 072 639 3795
5. Sibanengi Dube, MDC South Africa, 076 323 3723