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South
Africa - Zimbabwe: Deadline for arrests extended again
IRIN
News
January
14, 2011
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=91630
Zimbabweans
now have until the end of July 2011 to obtain documentation legalizing
their presence in South Africa following a meeting
between Department of Home Affairs Officials and members of the
Zimbabwean Stakeholder Forum on 12 January.
A statement
released by the SA Home Affairs department confirmed that undocumented
Zimbabweans could not be arrested before 1 August.
More than 275,000
Zimbabweans submitted applications for work, business or study permits
by the end of last year in a bid to regularize their stay in South
Africa before the end of a 17 month moratorium on deportations.
Human rights
organizations fear that thousands of Zimbabweans who have migrated
to South Africa to escape the social and economic problems that
have rocked their country in recent years, could face deportation
when the moratorium ends.
The Home Affairs
department recently announced that no
deportations would take place until the end of March 2011 to
allow time to process the applications. Only about 23,000 have so
far been approved, with nearly 221,000 still under adjudication.
However, the
Zimbabwean authorities have been unable to keep up with the demand
for passports and other documents needed to process the applications.
After Wednesday's meeting it was decided to extend the period
for processing documentation until 30 June, after which applicants
will have a month to collect their permits from Home Affairs.
According to
the statement, the Department will initiate "a sustained engagement
with the Zimbabwean government to expedite the issuance of passports",
starting with a meeting between the Zimbabwean Ambassador and the
Consul-General early next week.
The statement
also noted that lists of applicants requiring passports were being
provided to the Zimbabwean Embassy on a daily basis.
"We are
happy the moratorium on deportations has been extended," Gabriel
Shuma, Director of the Zimbabwe
Exiles Forum, told IRIN. "The South African government
has shown it's very keen to assist Zimbabweans to have a modicum
of dignity in this country, but we're not happy that our own
government has been reluctant to assist its citizens."
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