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BusinessLive reports that the High Court in Pretoria heard on Tuesday that Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi did not consider the harmful effects of his decision to end the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) regime.
On that basis alone his decision was unlawful, said Steven Budlender, counsel for the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF). The court was hearing three separate applications on the special permits, which has allowed about 178,000 Zimbabweans to lawfully live in SA since 2009. The permits, due to expire at the end of June, were first introduced in response to a political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe that created an exodus to SA. The permit regime was twice extended – in 2014 and 2017 – but the government says it was always clear that the permits were temporary. In November 2021, the cabinet announced that the government would “no longer issue extensions to the Zimbabwean special dispensation” and gave holders a year’s “grace” to get their immigration status in order. The year’s grace was then extended for another six months. The HSF challenged Motsoaledi’s decision on a number of grounds, including that there was no meaningful consultation with those affected before the decision was taken, and that the minister had not considered the effect of his decision on the holders of the permits and their children. Counsel for the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in SA, pointed out that the permits were introduced because of the dire situation in Zimbabwe, yet conditions there had not improved and the government had provided no evidence to the contrary. Counsel for the minister will argue the government’s side of the case on Wednesday.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Franny Rabkin at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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