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Moratorium on deportations remains until August
Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF)
January 12, 2011

The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) and other stakeholders today held a meeting in Pretoria with officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, South Africa. The meeting is one of many that are designed to strategise and work out interventions necessary to smoothen the Zimbabwe Documentation Project. The meeting held today was addressed by the Director General of Home Affairs, Mr Mkuseli Apleni, who was accompanied by the Chief Director of the ZDP, Mr Jacob Mamabolo.

The meeting has been hailed by ZEF as another show of South Africa's ability to appreciate the plight of Zimbabweans in this country when it was agreed that instead of March, deportations of Zimbabweans who have failed to regularize their stay will only commence in August 2011. The DG also emphasized that the door has now been closed for fresh applications, saying that those who have not taken advantage of the amnesty to surrender fraudulently obtained South African documents will now face the wrath of the law. The DG also reiterated that "the interest of Government is not to deport people; the objective is instead to bring back dignity to Zimbabweans in our country".

Discussions also centred around a plan that has been put in place to deal with the 275 622 applications submitted by Zimbabweans from all over South Africa. Among some of the issues to be tackled is how to deal with the Zimbabwean government's lack of capacity to produce passports on time. The Minister of Home Affairs of SA will hold a meeting with her counterparts from Zimbabwe at the end of this month or early next month. This meeting will be prefaced by another one between the DG, the Consul General and the Ambassador of Zimbabwe. The DG reiterated that "South Africa's open offer to Zimbabwe still stands", and that if Zimbabwe needs assistance, South Africa will assist in any way that it can. ZEF Executive Director Gabriel Shumba said that "we once more appeal to the Zimbabwean Government to consider this offer as it will assist our people in South Africa".

Further areas of work will also be communication with the South African Police to ensure that Zimbabweans in South Africa will not be arrested pending deportation before August as stakeholders complained that some Zimbabweans have already been arrested. The Department of Education will also be consulted to ensure that schools do not demand permits upfront as has been the case in some learning centres.

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