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CoRMSA News Release, 13 August 2014 Department of Home Affairs' decision to grant further protection for Zimbabweans CoRMSA welcomes the Zimbabwean Special Permits The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) welcomes the announcement made by the Minister of Home Affairs (DHA), Hon Malusi Gigaba to grant further protection to Zimbabwean nationals who received permits under the Dispensation of Zimbabwean Project (DZP). In 2009, Department of Home Affairs introduced the Dispensation of Zimbabweans Project to regulate and legalise the stay of Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa. The process included the granting of a moratorium on the deportation of Zimbabweans and the granting of the 90 day stay in South Africa. In 2010, this dispensation was opened for undocumented Zimbabwean migrants to apply for the DZP permits that allowed them to legally engage in employment, education and business. The DZP permits were valid for four (4) years from 2010 with no renewal clause attached to them. DHA indicated that over 250 000 Zimbabwean economic migrants applied under this dispensation. These permits were due to expire at various periods in 2014. The announcement to introduce the creation of the new Zimbabwean Special Dispensation Permits 2014 is welcomed. This is particularly important as various civil society organisations had over the past few years continued to engage with the department on what would happen after the DZP ends. This announcement has brought clarity to a community that was increasingly unsure of their fate in South Africa. Applications for ZSP will commence in October 2014 at Visa centre around the country. Unlike the DZP, the application for ZSP will be done online where applicants will be booked or allocated an appointment date to do away with experience of long queues at application centres as experienced during the DZP application process. CoRMSA remains hopeful that this will alleviate the long queues, reported corruption and other inconveniences that were noted during the implementation of DZP. However, CoRMSA hopes the online system will be simplified so it is easily accessible to all the beneficiaries of the process. CoRMSA also recommends the department of home affairs when making a decision on the application administration fee, to make a reasonable decision considering the livelihood of concerned beneficiaries. It would also be appreciated if no additional costs are levied on the applicants for the administrative costs of the service provider appointed by the Home Affairs. We further applaud the Department of Home Affairs' for committing to engage stakeholders moving forward regarding the implementation of the ZSP. This is also a good opportunity to engage in awareness-raising to the communities so that those who qualify are able to apply on time for the permits. CoRMSA would like to also urge the Department of Home Affairs to develop a monitoring and evaluation system that will ensure that challenges noted during the application process of the ZSP are addressed timeously to avoid delays. It is however, unfortunate that the announcement comes at a time when some beneficiaries of the DZP had had their permits expire and reports indicate some have been deported back to Zimbabwe. We trust a way will be found for them to still be able to benefit from the process. We further remain positive that the Department of Home Affairs will be able to finalise the cases reported to still be outstanding from the DZP process. CoRMSA, members and partners remain committed to assisting the Department of Home Affairs and the South African government in the realisation of the ZSP. For more information contact: Thifulufheli Sinthumule, 011 403 7560 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
