Zimbabwe: Home Affairs silent as 180 000 foreign nationals await permit
The four-year Zimbabwe Exemption Permit lapses in December and the South African government has not yet indicated if it will renew it.
Article originally published by GroundUp/Joseph Chirume.
Thousands of holders of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) are living in uncertainty because the South African government has not yet indicated whether it will renew their permits. About 180 000 Zimbabweans hold ZEPs. The four-year permit expires on 31 December 2021.
Some Zimbabweans said their banks had already warned them to renew their permits or face closure of their accounts in December.
The permits were first issued in 2010 under the Dispensation of Zimbabweans Project (ZDP). The programme was renewed in 2014 as the Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP), before the ZEP was introduced in 2017.