City Press reports that the Zimbabwe government is putting pressure on the SA government to withdraw their cabinet directive to not renew Zimbabwe Exemptions permits, which expire on 31 December 2021.
However, the SA Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, says despite the pressure from Mnangagwa’s government, he is not budging and will expire the permits of the 250 000 Zimbabweans.
Motsoaledi told the newspaper that it seems the Zimbabwe government does not want its citizens back.
Motsoaledi said the pressure seems to be an attempt to get the South African government to abuse its own immigration laws.
“There is an abuse of our systems and if we don’t put our foot down, we will keep being abused forever. We are not going to be forced to break our own laws in order to make someone else’s job easy.”Â
Advocate Simba Chitando, who is representing the ZEP holders, said he is now focused on asserting the legal rights of permit holders to get permanent residency in South Africa.
He said the court action to force President Cyril Ramaphosa to overturn the directive will continue.
Please read the full story in today’s City Press newspaper – 19 December 2021.
