The High Court in Pretoria is set to hear the final argument today in the legal challenge against Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s decision to terminate the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) program.
The program provides permits for around 180,000 Zimbabwean citizens living and working in South Africa and their dependents.
If the termination goes ahead, these permit holders will have to return to Zimbabwe or apply for alternative visas or permits.
Counsel representing the Zimbabwe Immigration Federation (ZIF) in the second application against the Minister argued that the termination of the program would cause irreparable harm to its holders.
Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who is representing the ZIF, warned that the forceful deportation of permit holders would lead to human tragedy.
“It’s an impractical thing. How is South Africa going to expel so many people on the first of July? How is this going to happen practically? It’s completely adverse for the minister to refuse to extend the benefits until the judges have decided what to do with this,” Ngcukaitobi said.
He added that the decision to enforce the termination of the program, despite knowing the human tragedy that would result, was a “perverse position to adopt.”
Ngcukaitobi stressed that this was not voluntary migration but forced migration, which had to be executed by law.
The court’s decision on this matter will have significant implications for the thousands of Zimbabwean citizens and their families who are living and working in South Africa.
The case is closely watched by human rights organizations, which have called on the South African government to consider the human impact of the termination of the ZEP program.
