The cabinet decision of South Africa to scrap the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP), which expired in December 2021 will be a big blow to thousands of Zimbabweans living in South Africa.
The cabinet decision of South Africa to scrap the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP), which expired in December 2021 will be a big blow to thousands of Zimbabweans living in South Africa. ZEP holders were given until the end of December 2022 to legalise their status in the country by other means which most people say is not possible. In fact, from 1 January 2023, thousands of Zimbabweans and their children will be denied permission to live and work legally in the republic. They face deportation or live in South Africa illegally.
The Zimbabweans living in South Africa had fled Zimbabwe from political violence. These people who face the threat of deportation are anguished at the prospect of starting from Zero in their country. Most of them are self-employed and said that they have not taken away jobs from South Africans, but only augmented the South African Economic growth. Some of them who applied for Waiver to Home Affairs Ministry on the basis of the support from the employer on grounds that no South Africans qualified for the job, did not get any response from the Ministry.
Activists say that such a situation would not have risen if Leaders of the Governments stopped shielding each other and cared for the interest of the people. The situation in Zimbabwe they say has not improved and most of them will come back or continue as undocumented workers.
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