The neighbouring country had set July 31 2011 as the final day on which Zimbabweans who applied for freely-issued work, business and study permits under the Zimbabwe Documentation Programme should collect their permits.
However, with both Zimbabwe and the host country are running about a month behind schedule, the South Africans have admitted that they will not be able to dispatch the close to 140 000 outstanding permits during the next seven days.
South Africa’s Home Affairs Deputy Director-general, Jackie McKay, revealed on Thursday that the July 31 deadline would be set aside to finish adjudication for the remaining 2 248 pending applications, which will be dispatched in August.
McKay said that as of Thursday, only 133 810 of the 273 514 adjudicated permits had been issued, leaving 139 704 approved permits awaiting collection.
“With a week to go, we are firmly on track to meeting our target to conclude the adjudication of applications,” said McKay.
He downplayed concerns by some Zimbabweans who fear that their permits may not be issued in time, indicating that there will be no deportation before the end of August.
“As we have previously indicated, we will conclude the adjudication of the applications by July 31 2011 and we will finalise all outstanding matters in August 2011. This will allow us sufficient time to dispatch all the required permits,” added McKay.
“We take this opportunity to reiterate that the initiative to document all Zimbabwean nationals in the country has been undertaken in full consultation with the Zimbabwean authorities including the Zimbabwean stakeholder forum members consisting of Zimbabwean organisations operating from South Africa. We therefore continue to count on their support to ensure we can bring this project to its logical conclusion.”
Post published in: Zimbabwe News