Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber on Friday extended the validity of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP) until November 28, 2025, to allow time to consult the affected ZEP holders and all other stakeholders on the future of the current dispensation.

The extension was made in terms of Section 31(2)(b) of the Immigration Act and was gazetted.

In 2022, former Minister of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, decided to terminate the ZEP.

In June 2023 the High Court in Pretoria confirmed that the termination of the ZEP was “unlawful”, and in December, the validity of ZEPs and Lesotho Exemption Permits was extended from November 29, 2023, to November 29, 2024.

Schreiber pointed out that the reactivation of the Immigration Advisory Board (IAB) is currently underway, and its first task will be to “consider, advise and enable” the steps for compliance with the order of the High Court on the future of the ZEP.

“In order to give the IAB time to properly do its work, and a fair process to be followed, I direct that existing ZEPs shall be deemed to remain valid for the next 12 months, and no holder of a ZEP may be arrested, ordered to depart or be detained for purposes of deportation or deported in terms of Section 34 of the Immigration Act for any reason related to him or her not having any valid exemption certificate,” he explained.

He said no ZEP holder should be required to produce a valid exemption certificate, visa or an authorisation letter to remain in the country, as contemplated in Section 32(1) of the Immigration Act when making an application for any category of the visa for temporary sojourn in the country as contemplated in Section 10(2) of the Immigration Act.