200 000 Zimbabweans offered four more years in SA

Home Affairs Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize yesterday announced the terms and conditions of the new four-year, nonrenewable permit regime for nearly 200 000 Zimbabweans based in South Africa.

The new dispensation is termed the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP).

“Conditions of the new ZEP dispensation entitles the holder to work, study and/or to conduct business, if that person is an entrepreneur.

“It’s important to emphasise the ZEP does not entitle the holder to apply for permanent resi- dence, irrespective of the period of stay in SA. It will neither be renewable nor extendable,” Mkhize said in Pretoria.

“The ZEP does not allow the permit holder to change the conditions of his or her permit while in SA. A permit holder who wishes to convert their status to any other mainstream visa should apply timeously for such a visa from within SA, provided they meet all the requirements for that visa.

“We have quite a number of visa regimes. If, for instance, a person wants to be considered under the category of a student, they have to come out of this one, and there are different conditions attached to that visa.”

Mkhize emphasised that the government believed migrants played an important role in the country’s economic development and enriched its social and cultural life.

The 197 941 holders of the current Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP), which expires in December, may travel across borders with expired ZSP permits and receipts showing they have applied for the ZEP, until they are issued with the new permits.

“The new ZEP will begin on September 15, 2017. People have a week now. They have been expecting it and nobody can say it’s a short period. The ZEP is open and valid for ZSP permit holders only… those are the people we are inviting to apply.

“We advise applicants to submit applications online from September 15,” said Mkhize.

The applications can be made on www.vfsglobal.com/ZEP/ SouthAfrica/com. The cut-off date for applications is November 30. An administrative fee of R1 090 will be charged.

From October, the applicants will be allocated appointments to submit fingerprints and supporting documents at VFS Global offices in Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, Rustenburg, Kimberley, Polokwane, Nelspruit, Bloemfontein and George.

Charge d’Affaires at the Zimbabwean High Commission in Pretoria, Tamuka Robert Nyamuranga, thanked the SA government “for the generous offer they have made to thousands of Zimbabweans”. – ANA