Comments by Director-General, Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has issued a departmental directive that all foreigners seeking extensions to their individual permits in terms of the provisions of the Immigration Act, 2002 be granted such extensions within 48 hours. This includes all permits excluding the Intra-Company Company Transfer Permit.
Through this intervention, we will address the situation where applicants awaiting extension of their permits are granted Form 20 which legalises their stay in the country, but does not allow them to work, study, travel or conduct any business. This has impacted negatively on the lives of applicants who met the requirements of the Act by applying within the required 30 day period.
By granting extensions within 48 hours, the applicants will be able to travel, work, study and conduct business as stated in the initial terms and conditions of the permit they seek to extend. In this regard the department has now done away with Form 20.
Minister Dlamini Zuma’s directive is a consequence of a thorough analysis that identified various logjams which previously acted as impediments in the department’s quest to expeditiously address applications for permit extensions.
The directive by the minister follows various measures announced last week to centralise the issuing and extension of all permits. It is anticipated that the additional measures being announced today will provide further impetus to government’s drive towards accelerating quality service delivery to all citizens and foreigners alike.
Minister Dlamini Zuma said, “The additional steps announced today, once again demonstrates both the department’s and government’s commitment towards ensuring that we relentlessly pursue our collective objective to provide quality service delivery to all citizens and visitors to our country.”
“We are confident that journey we have embarked on, will be a further boost to Government’s New Growth Path to address the pressing matters of job creation, the attraction of scarce skills and overall socio-economic growth,” she said.
To underpin Minister Dlamini Zuma’s directive that extensions of all applicable permits be resolved within 48 hours, the department has now put in place the following measures:
- A dedicated email facility, permit.extension@dha.gov.za, where foreigners can contact the department to verify the status of their applications for an extension. Applications will still be received in the regional offices.
- The creation of a dedicated fax line, 086 532 6320, to submit proof of application to expedite the issuing of permits.
- The department has also established a dedicated call centre where dedicated staff will assist foreigners’ seeking assistance. The following are the dedicated contact numbers for the call centre: 082 888 8328 or 082 809 5307, 082 801 8766 or 079 519 3105
It is important that when seeking to utilise the above-mentioned facilities, foreigners must provide a copy of the department’s acknowledgement of receipt issued at the time of application including their passport or reference number.
This new service will be in operation from Monday 30 November 2010 and will be operational during 07h00 to 16h00.
We are confident that these measures will make a significant contribution towards enhancing the department’s approach to the speedy extension or the issuing of new permits.
Regularisation of Zimbabweans update 3
In this regard, I take this opportunity to welcome our colleague from Zimbabwe, Maqembu Ngwenya from the Zimbabweans in Diaspora in Southern Africa (ZIDIASA, one of our stakeholders who are in attendance at this briefing to hand over a number of fraudulent documents previously acquired by Zimbabwean nationals. We welcome this initiative and urge more Zimbabweans to follow suit and come forward with their fraudulent documents.
His organisation has over the past few weeks led a campaign among Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa to hand over fraudulently acquired South African ID’s and permits. So far ZIDIASA has managed to organise 151 passports and copies of ID’s to be handed over to our offices in Tirro and Watloo. Today he has brought a further 12 as samples of such ID’s. As a government we sincerely want to express our deep appreciation for these efforts and express the hope that others will indeed emulate this example. Thus far, a total of 2 000 fraudulent IDs, passports, birth certificates have been received from Zimbabweans in our offices across the country.
Zimbabwean stakeholders, at a meeting with Minister Dlamini Zuma on Tuesday this week, highlighted a few challenges related to the project’s 31 December 2010 deadline. In the first instance, we re-iterate Minister Dlamini Zuma’s statement that the 31 December 2010 deadline will not be extended. In this regard, we urge all Zimbabweans seeking to regularise their stay in South Africa to ensure that their applications with the requisite documentation is submitted to the department by this deadline.
Furthermore, Zimbabweans are also encouraged to submit their applications to other Home Affairs offices to reduce congestion. We assure all Zimbabweans who have met this deadline, that they will not risk deportation or any other penalties while their applications are being processed. We reiterate our call for Zimbabweans to approach all our regional offices for this process, rather than just approaching a few of our offices such as Harrison Street, Market Street in Johannesburg and Tirro in Pretoria.
However, we need to re-emphasise that any application received after 31 December 2010 will not be processed.
The challenge of Zimbabweans residing in South Africa without any form of identification was also raised. This makes it difficult for them to obtain Zimbabwean passports. We reiterate the request that these stakeholders forward us a database of such Zimbabwean nationals seeking assistance in order for the department to respond appropriately.
Similarly, with regard to allegations of police harassment, Minister Dlamini Zuma requested those with evidence to bring it to her attention with a view to discussing the matter with the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa.
Comments by representative of Zimbabwean community
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of Zimbabweans. I am from the Zimbabwean Diaspora of Southern Africa. On behalf of all Zimbabweans in the country, we are very happy to come forward and express our gratitude to South Africa for the opportunity to regularise ourselves. The majority of us who have lived in South Africa for 10 to 20 years have obtained fraudulent documents which enabled us to move around but our lives and conditions were very difficult. We suffered harassment and some inhuman treatment. For us now, we feel like we imagine those in the Bible felt when we read that Noah was building an ark calling people to prepare for the rain which was coming. I urge all my countrymen to submit their illegal documents. It can only be a good thing.
I personally have lived in South Africa for 13 years with a fraudulent document. I believe it is worth surrendering it because in those 13 years I lived with great uncertainty. The submission of fraudulent documents can only be an advantage.
We support the fact that this gives us four years but out of these years, we will be able to live normal lives.We have been running and bribing for many years but in the next four years, we are convinced our lives will be better.
We have received 151 documents in three weeks with many more expected from our organisations. We have a number of organisations representing Zimbabweans. We interact with each other from time to time to urge our countrymen to submit their documents.
Regarding the suggestion this is a trap – it may seem like this for someone who does not know. But for us who have lived with such fear and uncertainty, paying so many bribes, this is now the only thing we can do, submit our documents. South Africa’s initiative is like the ark, the rain is coming and we have to take shelter.
Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
Question: DG, I just need to clarify – you are basically instructing that people must have their permits extended within 48 hours. Will this really happen? How many permits require extension? When is the deadline? What are the logjams to which you have referred?
Answer: Regarding the number of fraudulent documents – for now we have a number of approximately 2 000 who have submitted documents throughout the country. Today we are merely referring to what we in Gauteng have received but in total, Home Affairs offices throughout the country have received approximately 2 000 documents.
As a department, we have indicated we have received in excess of 70000 applications. Of this about 23 000 have been adjudicated. We have a figure of approximately 30000 which still need to be adjudicated.
Regarding the number of permits that have not been processed – in an earlier discussion we indicated that the number of permits for temporary residence amount to about 11 000, on the permanent residence permits we have about 13 000 and then on the
Zimbabwean matter, we have approximately 30 000 that have not been adjudicated.
What do we mean by logjams – you will recall that we last week indicated that minister had taken a decision to centralise the permits we were collecting throughout the country, so this was one of the logjams to which we were referring. We have now centralised this process and surely when you begin such a process you will have to deal with issues like the courier services, the way in which applications are submitted and processed, and such matters which also must be addressed. We are now putting in place processes to deal with this. We announced last week that we had appointed a Chief Director to deal with this matter. We also currently have 65 staff members and will be holding interviews on Friday this week for an additional 35 so that we can have 100 adjudicators to deal with these applications beginning around the 6 December. These are the logjams we have but we are also working on clearing these up.
Question: DG, I have been at Harrison Street in Johannesburg several times and still find many Zimbabweans queuing there. Many express concern over this process and that they will not receive their documents especially because the offices close around the middle of December. As the minister indicated earlier this week, 70 000 applications have been received. Do you have number of how many Zimbabweans still need to apply?
Answer: Yes, the Zimbabweans are indicating that they cannot meet the deadline because they do not have the necessary documentation like Zimbabwean passports. As we have said, we are monitoring this on a daily basis and are working together with the stakeholders from the Zimbabwean community. As a country, we are confident we will be able to receive all the forms which are ready however, if there are challenges with the Zimbabweans as they indicated when they met with the Minister, including that they do not have the necessary Zimbabwean documents to enable them to continue with the process of obtaining South African documents, we said we will not leave these people aside. We have asked the Zimbabweans to provide a database to us so we know the numbers we are dealing with.
The deadline of 31 December 2010 refers to the deadline for the submission of documents. Surely, if someone submits on the 29 December 2010 their documents will not be ready by the 31 December. If we have this list, we will still ensure these people receive their South African documents as soon as the Zimbabwean processes have been completed.
Coming to the number of Zimbabweans in South Africa – I think the government is on record as saying we do not know the exact numbers we are dealing with. It is the media that suggests the numbers of 2 to 3 million. But how we are now calculating the number is as follows – we have received approximately 70 000 applications, our colleagues in Zimbabwe say they have received 30 000 applications for passports.
So we are looking at 100 000 Zimbabweans. If we look at the month we have left, we can expect perhaps at the end to be documenting about 150 000 Zimbabweans nationals in South Africa. This is how we are calculating the number at the moment.
We are ensuring we are in control of this process.
Question: DG, how many people have been granted amnesty in terms of this process?
Answer: Remember the amnesty to which we are referring is that once you submit the fraudulent documents, we will not ask you anything else.We do not want to know who gave you what. Once you submit the document, you receive amnesty. The documents we have here today, these people already have amnesty.Submission of documents = amnesty. We are looking at perhaps 2 000 such submissions.
Question: DG, it says you have managed to obtain 151 passports and identity documents which are fraudulent. This number obviously differs from what the department has said, because you are saying the number is more like 2 000?
Answer: The number of 2 000 refers to fraudulent documents we have received throughout the country. The 151 is part of this.
Question: DG, the Zimbabweans are still concerned that the intention behind this process is to get rid of them. Could you clarify this?
Answer: For us the people, even you have said they are concerned about meeting the deadline. We are assisting with this and going the extra mile. Why would we go the extra mile to assist Zimbabweans if we wanted to get rid of them? Why would the minister say to the Zimbabweans if you are unable to provide documents in time, bring your list to us so we can assist? Why would the minister say bring specific details to us of harassment and intimidation so we can follow up with the minister of Police? Look at the requirements for this process – they are so relaxed.Why would we do all of this if our intention was to deport the Zimbabweans who are in South Africa? It does not make logical sense if you look at the whole situation.
