SA Home Affairs Minister Orders Police Not To Arrest or Deport Zimbabweans With Special Exemption Permits

Below is the full immigration directive from the Minister of Home Affairs.

MINISTER’S IMMIGRATION DIRECTIVE NO 1 OF 2021

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION TO EXTEND ZIMBABWEAN NATIONALS’ EXEMPTIONS GRANTED IN TERMS OF SECTION 31(2)(b), READ WITH SECTION 31(2)(d) OF THE IMMIGRATION ACT 13 OF 2002

I, Dr PA Motsoaledi, MP, Minister of Home Affairs having, with the powers bestowed upon me in terms of section 31(2)(b), read with section 31(2)(d) of the Immigration Act, decided to extend the Zimbabwean exemptions granted to Zimbabwean nationals for a period of 12 months in order to allow the holders thereof to apply for one or other visas provided for in the Immigration Act that they may qualify for, hereby direct that this decision should be implemented as follows, during the 12 months’ period, ending 31 December 2022:

1. No holder of the exemption may be arrested, ordered to depart or be detained for purposes of deportation or deported in terms of the section 34 of the Immigration Act for any reason related to him or her not having any valid exemption certificate (i.e permit label / sticker) in his or her passport. The holder of the exemption permit may not be dealt with in terms of sections 29, 30 and 32 of the Immigration Act
2. The holder of the exemption may be allowed to enter into or depart from the Republic of South Africa in terms of section 9 of the Act, read together with the Immigration Regulations, 2014, provided that he or she complies with all other requirements for entry into and departure from the Republic, save for the reason of not having valid permit indicated in his or her passport; and
3. No holder of exemption should be required to produce-

(a) a valid exemption certificate;

(b) an authorisation letter to remain in the Republic contemplated in section 32(2) of the Immigration Act when making an application for any category of the visas, including temporary residence visa.

Any enquiry related to the contents of this Directive, should be directed to Mr Jackson Mckay, Deputy Director-General: Immigration Services, E-mail ZEPenquiries@dha.gov.za