JOHANNESBURG - Less than 300 000 Zimbabweans applied for freely-processed South African permits during the process that took place between September 15 and December 31 2010, the South African government revealed last week.
Although various estimates have put the number of Zimbabweans in the neighbouring country at between 2.5 and 3million, South Africas Home Affairs Department last week revealed that only 275 762 had tendered their applications for the permits, meant to legalise all Zimbabweans in the country.
Human rights groups say the figure, which does not include those employed in the security industry, where most Zimbabwean men are, could be an indication that most are finding it very difficult to make it into the South African job market, which also continues to shrink.
Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesman for the South African Home Affairs Department, also revealed that a total of 44 824 permit applications have been approved so far, while 10 106 are under review and 220 832 are presently under adjudication. In terms of our plan of action, the final batch of permits will reach our front offices on 29 June 2011 and will be available for collection from 30 June 2011, said Mamoepa.
Applicants will have until 31 July 2011 to collect these permits from our 42 offices around the country and from August 2011 onwards, Zimbabweans who are not in possession of the necessary documentation that regularises their stay in country will be subject to our normal immigration laws because during the application process, the Department created an enabling environment to assist Zimbabweans to meet the 31 December 2010 deadline for the submission of their applications.
Mamoepa, whose government is said to be unhappy with Zimbabwes lackadaisical approach to fulfilling its mandate on the documentation process by delaying the processing of outstanding passports, said his department would this week be initiating sustained engagement with the Zimbabwean government to expedite the issuance of the travel documents.
As part of this process, (SA) Home Affairs Department Director General (Mkuseli Apleni) will be meeting with the Zimbabwean Ambassador and Consul-General early next week and this will be followed by a meeting between Minister Dlamini Zuma and her Zimbabwean counterparts, added Mamoepa.
To further assist the Zimbabwean government with the issuance of passports, we are providing the Embassy, on a daily basis, with lists of applicants who require passports to regularise their stay in South Africa. South African Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, had directed that the process to document Zimbabweans who had heeded governments call to submit applications by deadline should be concluded by June 30 2011.
With a view to ensuring the department meets the deadline, a comprehensive plan has been finalized, which includes fast-tracking the dispatch and adjudication of all outstanding applications, the fingerprinting of applicants, sustained engagement with the Zimbabwean government to fast track the issuance of passports to approved applicants and stakeholder engagements with other interested parties.
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