News24 reports that less than 4% of Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders have made representations to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to say why their documents should not be terminated later this year.

This emerged in court papers the department filed at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. The ZEP is a special dispensation permit that was established more than 10 years ago, providing legal protection to an estimated 178 000 Zimbabweans who live, work and study in SA. In January, Cabinet decided that the arrangement should be terminated by December and that permit holders should apply for a visa to remain in SA on the basis of a list of critical skills. In the case before court brought by the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF), the department said that only 6,000 out of the 178,000 permit holders responded to the call made by DHA Minister Aaron Motsoaledi last year for Zimbabweans to state their case before the dispensation lapsed. According to the HSF, the decision to terminate the permit will turn ZEP holders in SA into undocumented migrants. However, in the court papers, DHA director-general Livhuwani Tommy Makhode said the minister had allowed ZEP holders to apply for visas as contemplated by the Immigration Act. Makhode also said a decision not to grant further exemptions had not been made. He also lambasted the HSF for not putting up evidence on how many ZEP holders intended to lodge or have lodged applications for general work visas or how many were not able to meet the requirements. "On the evidence, HSF cannot demonstrate that any application for permanent residence made in terms of s26 by ZEP holders will be rejected," Makhode pointed out.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jeanette Chabalala at News24

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