A ZimLive report claims that thousands of Zimbabwe students who are studying in South Africa have already missed weeks of learning time as they wait for visas from the South Africa embassy.
The delays in processing visa applications at the embassy have been attributed to staff shortage. Applications made as far back as November have not yet been processed.
The South African chapter of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu-SA) issued a statement on Thursday in which it said:
The embassy on average has been receiving 120 applications per day (for student visas) from across Zimbabwe. That’s an increase of 25 per cent from last year. Compounding the problem is that the embassy only has three people dealing with all forms of permits – study, relatives, work, critical skills.
… The embassy has sent a communication to all universities requesting that they extend registration timelines. The University of Johannesburg extending theirs to February 8, 2019. It is our understanding that all universities must extend registration deadlines for Zimbabwean students.
The South African Embassy was not able to give a comment to ZimLive when requested to do so.