South Africa Urges Zimbabweans To Take Advantage Of Permit Extension
South Africa’s Home Affairs Department has urged thousands of Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders to take advantage of the six-month extension to make representations as to why their permits should not be terminated.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that only 9 000 out of the 178 000 permit holders have made representations.
Home Affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza said the department has reached out to all the 178 000 ZEP holders. He said:
The permit itself has indeed expired. We are now in the grace period that the Minister has introduced to try to help people to apply or migrate to regular permits.
We have made every effort to reach out to them. There were letters that were written to each and every one of them individually because we do have a record of all the 178 000 people who are on this permit.
Motsoaledi said the validity of the permit has been extended by a further six months to 30 June 2023. The initial expiry date was 31 December 2022. | SABC
