Programme News
20 January 2011
(Press release)
Home Affairs Office, Monday 17 January 2011, Comments by Director-General Mkuseli Apleni
Good afternoon colleagues: You will recall that we are really committed as a Department to ensuring we brief you regularly regarding the Zimbabwean documentation project. You will also recall that we are co-dependent upon the Zimbabwean government to meet our deadline of 30 June 2011 to conclude this...
19 January 2011
(News)
SW Radio Africa: Zimbabwean government authorities have been meeting with officials in South Africa this week, to try and clarify the ongoing confusion surrounding the issuing of passports for Zim nationals trying to regularise their stay in the country. South African Home Affairs officials are in the process of adjudicating more than 270 000 applications made by Zimbabweans for permits,...
18 January 2011
(News)
Police officers should know they can't arrest Zimbabweans for not having proper documents to be in SA until the home affairs department lifts the moratorium on deportations on August 1, .
Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, head of the refugee and migrant rights programme Lawyers for Human Rights, said on Thursday: “It is a positive move from home affairs to extend the moratorium on deportations....
18 January 2011
(News)
FRANNY RABKIN: Until the moratorium is lifted on deportations, police officers are not allowed to arrest illegal Zimbabweans
Lawyers for Human Rights yesterday welcomed the government’s decision not to deport Zimbabweans until August 1 but was concerned about continued arrests and police harassment. The Department of Home Affairs has been saying there would be no deportations...
13 January 2011
(Press release)
At a stakeholders meeting on the 12th January, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Director General Mkuseli Apleni confirmed that DHA will be extending the moratorium on deportations until the end of July 2011. The moratorium will be lifted on 1 August 2011. The moratorium remains in place until this time and applies to all Zimbabweans.
DHA responded to the continued arrests and harassment...
10 January 2011
(News)
South Africa may start deporting more than 1.2 million Zimbabweans in April after they missed a deadline to legalize their residency, Lawyers For Human Rights said. Almost 255,000 Zimbabweans applied to legalize their residency before the Dec. 31 deadline, South Africa's government said while ruling out an extension to the process. A "conservative" estimate by Johannesburg's...
8 January 2011
(News)
Let me begin by reiterating government’s commitment to adjudicating applications from Zimbabweans who wish to regularise their stay in South Africa as soon as possible. As at the end of business on Friday 31 December 2010, the closing date on which applications from undocumented Zimbabwean nationals were accepted, 275762 applications were received. To date, a total of 42779...
29 December 2010
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights is disappointed that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) refuses to extend the deadline for the process that aims to regularise the status of thousands of Zimbabweans in South Africa. As civil society we accept that the process will not achieve its objective to reach a significant number of Zimbabweans residing in the country. The current roll out of the process will...
15 December 2010
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) jointly and on behalf of a collective of civil society organisations, last week submitted a complaint to the Office of the Public Protector over the refusal by the Department of Home Affairs to extend the deadline for new applications to the Zimbabwe Documentation Project.
The Public Protector Adv. Thuli Madonsela has responded by raising these concerns with...
9 December 2010
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) jointly and on behalf of a collective of civil society organisations, has submitted a complaint to the Office of the Public Protector over the refusal by the Department of Home Affairs to extend the deadline for new applications to the Zimbabwe Documentation Project. Although these organisations were hopeful that the Minister of Home Affairs would...