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Moneyweb reports that the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holders Association, representing roughly 250,000 Zimbabweans in SA, has asked the Gauteng High Court to declare its members permanent residents.
Their Zimbabwe Exemption Permits are due to expire in November 2021. They have also asked the court to direct the Minister of Home Affairs to issue them with SA ID documents on the grounds that they are permanent residents of SA in terms of the Immigration Act read together with the Identification Act. Furthermore, they have asked the court to review and set aside the decision by Home Affairs not to renew residency permits “knowing that the holders of the permit have known no other home besides South Africa for more than 10 years”. This decision was unconscionable, irrational, unreasonable and unconstitutional, according to the court papers. Zimbabwean Exemption Permit holders have a constitutional right to an equal path to citizenship in SA, and that right was being withheld, the association claimed. Advocate Simba Chitando, representing the applicants in the case, argued: “The problem faced by many hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans in SA is that they have been here for 10 years or longer under a variety of different permits, and it is generally conceded that they make a huge contribution to the SA economy, yet these permits do not allow them to enjoy the benefits that come with permanent residence, such as full access to banking facilities, or the right to accumulate pension savings. We argue that it is past time to grant permanent residence to those Zimbabweans who have been living and working in SA in a kind of no-man’s land. We believe it is reasonable to expect to be granted permanent residence when the ZEPs expire, which they do in November 2021.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ciaran Ryan at Moneyweb
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