News / Africa
Zimbabwe Special Permits will not be renewed in 2017
13 Jan 2016 at 07:58hrs | Views
The Migrant Workers Union South Africa official Ngqabutho Mabhena has said it appears the Zimbabwe Special Permits in South Africa will not be renewed in December 2017 which means that those who can not migrate to normal permits will be sent back to their homes on January 2018 or become illegal immigrants.
"The reality is that the ZSP will not be renewed come 31 December 2017. This means that those who can't migrate to normal permits will be expected to return home on 1st January 2018 or become illegal immigrants," Mabhena said.
"We can engage the South African government on the future of the ZSP holders but that becomes a costly exercise as we have bills to pay. The donor community will not fund a project meant to assist people who earn a salary every week or month. Donor agencies only help refuges and other displaced people."
He said they have 3 whatsapp groups of ZSP holders bringing the number to 152. The South African government has issued over 198 000 permits.
"In my view, it will be unfair to ask the 152 people on our whatsapp group to fund the project which will benefit close to 200 000 ZSP holders. Again it will be unfair for us to negotiate using our resources, because for starters we don't have," he said.
"The challenge is that we don't have start up capital to call for meetings in different places. As it stands, it means the 152 people should contribute at least R50 a month but if we were to reach out to many people, each individual will contribute R10 per year . The R10 per year per individual will be more than enough to cover all related costs including office space."
"We are left with two options: To ask the 152 on our whatsapp group to contribute a once off R100 for us to kick start the process of reaching out to everyone OR just wait and hope the South African government will just extend the permits without any negotiations with them," he added.
"l have written this long submission so that we can stop on jokes and seriously consider our future. We will be taking down your suggestions."
"The reality is that the ZSP will not be renewed come 31 December 2017. This means that those who can't migrate to normal permits will be expected to return home on 1st January 2018 or become illegal immigrants," Mabhena said.
"We can engage the South African government on the future of the ZSP holders but that becomes a costly exercise as we have bills to pay. The donor community will not fund a project meant to assist people who earn a salary every week or month. Donor agencies only help refuges and other displaced people."
He said they have 3 whatsapp groups of ZSP holders bringing the number to 152. The South African government has issued over 198 000 permits.
"The challenge is that we don't have start up capital to call for meetings in different places. As it stands, it means the 152 people should contribute at least R50 a month but if we were to reach out to many people, each individual will contribute R10 per year . The R10 per year per individual will be more than enough to cover all related costs including office space."
"We are left with two options: To ask the 152 on our whatsapp group to contribute a once off R100 for us to kick start the process of reaching out to everyone OR just wait and hope the South African government will just extend the permits without any negotiations with them," he added.
"l have written this long submission so that we can stop on jokes and seriously consider our future. We will be taking down your suggestions."
Source - Byo24News
